


Quoth the Raven

by rextexx



Category: LazyTown
Genre: AU - Shapeshifter, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, Fluff, Freeform, Hunting, Love Confessions, M/M, Mention of Depressions, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Original Character(s), Partly accurate elven mythology, Pining, Raven - Freeform, Sickfic, alternative universe, fae!Robbie, sorta?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-09-27 00:55:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 41,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9942992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rextexx/pseuds/rextexx
Summary: [ Shapeshifter AU ]Sportacus finds an injured raven with a bruised wing and decides to take him to the airship and care for him during the night.Little does he know who he really brought back to his home, until he finds a certain villain plundering his honey jar.





	1. Bird or beast above his chamber door

**Author's Note:**

> This is another tumblr prompt based fanfiction.  
> ( Yep, the prompt was made by myself, i wrote my own prompt, lmao)  
> https://rextexx.tumblr.com/post/157558366302/shapeshifter-au
> 
>  
> 
> As always, its un-beta'd and written by a non-native speaker, so sorry if I'm messing up stuff

**_All the world will be your enemy, Prince With A Thousand Foes. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you._ **  
**_But first, they must catch you. Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people shall never perish._ **

_\- Watership down_

* * *

 

Being a creature of magic had its benefits. At least it did, sometimes. It did come in handy whenever Robbie decided his hair was a little too off, or his back was killing him and turning his posture into an awkward bow. Or when he simply needed to stay anonymous during the day. A single flick of his wrist, sometimes a trite snip of his finger, and a whole new world would open up to him.  
  
He wondered why he even bothered using disguises at that point, but...oh well, it had come down to be his routine, one he cared much for. After all, he was a master of disguise. And not only that – a villain number one too.  
And, a secret he kept well and private – a fae.  
  
Not just any fae, mind you. Fae's are tiny little nasty buggers that bit and tugged on hair and plucked your eyelashes out in your sleep. Besides – they were damn ugly. Big feet and pointy, long ears and sharp teeth and split tongues, and big, emotionless black eyeballs. Awfully ugly. The only, probably most beautiful part about fae's were their wings. Small feathery extensions of their shoulder blades, in brown, or silver, sometimes colorful combinations. From far away, the human eye might have perceived them as robins.  
  
Robbie did not have wings. Nor sharp teeth, nor big feet ( which at least he hoped was true, they did appear pretty misshapen at points), nor did he have big black eyes and pointy ears. And ugly? No. He was most definitely handsome. He knew it himself, a large part of his daily routine consisted of sprucing himself up neatly. The bit of magic he did possess was purely used to move from a to b, or slip fast into costumes and disguises.

And to form himself into other, non-human things.  
  
His specialty was the form of a raven. Pitch-black feathers, with a small hint of purple. His feathers spiked up down his beak into his chest and on top of his skull to form his usual pompadour. It may have looked a little strange to see such a unique form of feathers on top of a bird, but, may he say, it kept bigger birds away from him, and immensely impressed the females.  
  
Back when Lazytown was still living up to its name, Robbie used his powers only at times when he felt his back was hurting from sitting around and his primal instincts took over, aching for a flight. He would fly over Lazytown sometimes, rest in the lowest branch of a tree for a few moments and peck at a dropped fry. Sometimes he would simply circle around in his lair with its high walls and lovely props hanging everywhere on which he could rest for a moment, and possibly find spots he should clean better next time.  
  
Now, however, Lazytown lost its old glory, ever since Sportaflop, Sportapleb, Sportakook, _Short_ acus, whatever blasted name he was called, had arrived, Robbie had started to observe this town, not out of his wish for a little snack, or to stretch his wings – but to supervise his territory.  
  
Yes. _His_ territory.  
  
His territory that started disconcertingly lacking fast food and sweet goodies, instead finding chopped carrot sticks and peeled bananas instead of fries he would snatch out of the children's hands. Instead of a calm, idle morning, he was woken up by terrible screams and laughter and little feet stomping. They barely sat or calmed down enough for Robbie to jump down onto the ground whenever his fear of heights got the best of him. He was accidentally kicked, or shoved away by the brats clumsy feet, a basketball nearly hitting the top of his skull when he meant to cross the sports field, or a football barely missing him whenever it flew far into the air.  
  
He felt, in general, very unwelcome in his very own home.

That was the time Robbie decided, that this strange blue flipping jackrabbit had to go. _Now.  
_  
Robbie had waited patiently on a tree branch right above the sports field. Sportacus ended their training, and picked up the ball to explain the children the terribly boring rules of soccer ( Robbie honestly never believed this stupid game even had or needed rules, when all you do is kick a ball from one side to the other), that was the moment Robbie decided to attack. He spread his wings and sailed down, landing on the mans shoulder. The children gasped. “Sportacus, look!”  
  
Sportacus looked at the bird sitting on his right arm with an expression of surprise.  
“Well, hello there, Mister Raven!” Sportacus grinned brightly. “Aren't you a handsome young fellow. Have you come to join us for some sports?” he asked.  
  
Robbie croaked into Sportacus ear. As loud as he could, feathers ruffled and puckered to appear at least twice his size. The man barely flinched.  
“Haha, that's nice to hear. Did you guys know Raven are among the smartest of birds?” he had turned back to the kids.  
“Really?” Stephanie, Trixie, Stingy, Pixel and Ziggy gaped at Robbie suddenly as if the bird just had magically pulled a rabbit out of a hat.  
“Yes! They are told to have the intelligence of a five year old. You can teach them to speak and nearly train them like dogs.” - “Woow. so he is as smart as me?” Ziggy asked. “I bet he can't count to ten yet though!”  
“Hehe, well. Maybe he can.” Sportacus turned to the bird.  
  
“Mister, can you say _hello_?”  
Robbie screeched, feathers flapping angrily.  
  
“Hmm, looks like he can't speak. Well, maybe we can teach him! You wanna sit on my hand perhaps, Mister Raven?”  
Sportacus lifted his finger, an invitation for the avian to sit on top. Robbie pecked at the digit with all his might. “Ow!” Sportacus flinched back. “Hey, no need to be scared, I wont hurt you--”  
  
Robbie then proceeded to tug rebelliously at the man's ridiculous cap, with the children's laughter in the background.  
“What are you-- _hey!_ ” Sportacus noticed the blue flap hanging from the raven's large beak. The raven dropped the object, the cap tumbling off to the floor. Instead, the bird began furiously pecking and picking and tugging on the man's revealed locks, a wall of black feathers and angrily flapping wings surrounding the sports-elf. Sportacus ducked from the assault with his hands shielding his head and attempting to pry the animal off of him.  
  
Robbie stopped, once one of those large hands suddenly swung a little too close to his retrices, so he flapped back into the tree with irked crowing. Sportacus quickly gathered his cap back.  
  
“Guys, I think we should play somewhere else. It looks like this crow has a nest perhaps and thinks we are intruders trying to steal his eggs.”  
“But we can't even reach up to his nest,” Stingy protested. “Besides, this is _my_ sportsfield.”  
“I wouldn't want him to start attacking all of you as well. We should take the hint.”  
  
Sportacus, oddly enough, was not angry at all. Even when his finger was slightly bleeding at the knuckle. “I'm sorry, Mister Raven. We will not bother you any further.” Sportacus waved, picked up the soccer ball and led the children over to the meadow across. Robbie began putting his feathers back in order. Well. That plan might not have exactly worked as he had planned, since Sportacus was still here, and in town. But, at least, he was no longer playing right above his lair.  
Robbie needed a nap. A very long, good birdie-nap.  
Robbie pushed himself off the branch and glided over to the other side of the small meadow, over to the single bench standing at the center of Lazytown.

He fell asleep, right as he huddled down onto the wooden construction and closed his eyes. It had to be somewhere around the evening when Robbie woke up again. The sky was covered in deep orange and a few pink clouds hovered over the horizon. He still heard chatter and laughter from the small park Sportacus and the kids had settled to play instead- and he heard something else A strange guttural noise. A very angry – and hungry – noise coming from the shrub right next to him. Robbie lifted his head. Two round, silver, dull eyes stared from behind a few thin branches. Two slits, tightly narrowed., whiskers poking out of the growth.  
  
Robbie comprehended the situation a little delayed – a large ginger cat sprung from its hideaway onto the bench, paws pressing down onto his wing and trapping him from escaping. Robbie crowed and screeched in panic, bunches of feathers scattered into the air, wings flapped uselessly against the paws that clawed at his wings and his leg. He turned his head and pecked violently against the cats whiskers. That seemed enough to shoo the cat away with a pained hiss, and Robbie, completely forgetting how to fly for a moment, or maybe, he simply couldn't fly anymore, tumbled off the bench and flapped away, no matter where to, just far far away. His leg hurt. His wing hurt. Especially his wing.  
  
At least the cat stopped chasing him, as a voice called. “Teddy! Teddy we're going home!” The voice of one of the kids called, and on cue, the cat gracefully jumped off and followed its masters command.  
_Stupid, lousy fleebag_ , Robbie hissed. He would make sure to set some extra traps for this pussycat the next morning, once he was back being a human!  
  
He limped further over the pavement, towards his house. It was far, far away from here, goddammit why did he settle down right in the _center_ of the town? He would make it though, somehow. Even if his wing was hurting like hell, no matter that he was basically a good fodder for other, bigger, hungrier birds of prey.  
  
“Hey, where are you going?” A voice said. Robbie stopped short, head moving around to locate whoever was talking to him. He saw two blue tree trunks, looked up – it was Sportacus. He still had the soccerball under his arm, and looked actually a little concerned. The bird at his feet seemed to be hurt, his wing was protruding in a strange angle. And he constantly lifted his leg off the floor.  
  
“Oh. Are you hurt?”  
_No, I'm doing a hundred percent tiptop, as you can see, a broken wing is the new style,_ Robbie rolled his eyes and crowed angrily.  
  
Sportacus crouched down to his knees. His mustache twitched nervously. “Hmm, you can't fly anymore, can you?” He reached his hand for him.  
_No, Nono, Nope, you will not touch me!_ Robbie flapped his wing in a vain attempt to fly away.  
“Oh boy. Poor you. I do hope you positively lambasted that guy, you do have lots of strength in that beak.”  
_Oh I positively nearly 'died', thanks for asking._ Robbie decided not to waste his time with this stupid grinning puppy of a man and continued to awkwardly hop away.  
  
“Hey, wait. You can't just run off, you're still injured.”  
_Leave me alone, Sportaflop!_ Robbie began hopping a little faster, but ugh, of course the man was faster than him. He came to a stop, right before him. Robbie hissed, puffing up his feathers again.  
“Now, if you promise me not to bite me, I can take you home and take care of you, yes?”  
_No, leave me in peace!  
_  
Sportacus' hands approached him, this time from an angle that Robbie could not so easily peck at. And before he even knew, he was suddenly lifted off the ground. Robbie clamored angrily, wings flapping and tiny feet kicking, crowing, screeching  
“Ow! Okay, come on now – _Ow!_ Stop scratching me, I'm not going to hurt you.” Sportacus held the bird close to his chest. Robbie still angrily wiggled and squirmed in Sportacus hand and stabbed his beak into his shirt.  
“Ouch!” Sportacus, for once, actually threw him a sour glance. “Okay, if you keep poking me, I will have to drop you again.”  
_Just bring me back home, 'my' home,_ Robbie wanted to say. But Sportacus was walking into the complete opposite direction. Where was he bringing him, he wondered.

Sportacus had moved over to his airship, which he parked outside the town. It was huge. Way too large for just one single man to live inside there. “Well, here we are. This is my, well...nest.”  
Charming, Robbie thought, that Sportacus decided to talk to him in pseudo bird language. He might put that on the list of things to make fun of him later on.  
  
Sportacus climbed up the ladder, one hand holding him, the other grasping the rungs. The ladder was wobbling and swaying. Robbie actually retreated further into that arm, crouched and obviously scared. “No worries, Mister. I've carried heavier things up here.” Sportacus assured the bird.  
Robbie didn't know exactly if that should sooth him, because it definitely didn't, and he only began feeling more or less safe again once Sportacus opened the door and closed it behind him.  
  
The airship was...huge. Bright. There was barely anything in here, no furniture, no pictures, no decorations, nothing. He did notice a red chair at one end, right in front of a steering wheel. But besides that...  
“Desk.” Sportacus said, and a platform raised from the floor. Ah. So that's where his furniture was. Sportacus carefully placed Robbie on top of a small rag on the table. “Stay here. I will be right back.”  
Sportacus flipped over to the pole in the center of the vast empty room, effortlessly climbing up like a monkey, and vanishing in, what Robbie believed, was the second floor.  
A second floor, probably full more of nothingness.  
  
On one hand, Robbie was absolutely fascinated by the way this airship controlled and worked. He himself had a hand for electronics and machinery, and everything new and complicated was a gold mine of new information to soak in.  
On the other hand, a thought just crossed his mind. He was _inside_ Sportacus ship. For the very first time. He had never dared to even approach the thing, being scared of such enormous heights and afraid Sportacus would notice if he would sneak into his home.  
And now, he found himself right here, no much efforts of breaking in first.  
  
This was his chance. This had to be his chance to start and find out some spicy detail about the man, maybe pull some cords, make the ship malfunction and shut down – or even better; He could reboot the system, and make it have a mind of its own. And the next time Sportacus would try to fly over Lazytown like he did every morning, he would get sent straight back to where that blasted sportslunatic came from!  
  
Robbie snickered maliciously. Which was a little awkward with a beak. Robbie tried standing up, but the pain in his leg was excruciating, now that he had finally given it a moment to settle. It was bleeding and covering the towel in soft red dots. Stupid, smelly feline.  
  
Sportacus returned, sliding down the pole and jogged back to the table, a box in his hands.  
“Alright, I need you to stay still for a moment.” Sportacus opened the case, and fetched bandages. “I'm not awfully aware how to nurse birds back to health. But you can just peck me if I hurt you. Gentle though. Last time you made my knuckle bleed.”  
Robbie would sneer if he could. Instead, he watched the hand that started examining his wing. “Well, its not broken, as far as I can see. A little swollen, but you should be able to fly again, soon.” Sportacus began slowly wrapping the bandages around his wing, and it showed that Sportacus indeed was clueless. He was rippling his feathers painfully. The Raven flinched. “Sorry, sorry, let me try again.” Sportacus set back on the base of the muscle, carefully moving it over his feathers without accidentally plucking one out.  
  
“I wonder how this happened. Did you fall out of the tree? Did the children bully you?”  
_No, not the children. Though, they nearly kicked me a few times today_ , Robbie's bright eyes blinked in response.  
Sportacus carefully hooked the bandages with a clasp. “Alright, your wing will be fine very soon. You shouldn't move it too much though, or the bandage will fall off.”  
Robbie croaked. His beak tipped at his injured leg. “Oh! Right, I nearly forgot about your leg. You really are a smart bird, aren't you?”  
_Smarter than you for sure!  
_  
“Alright, lets see. You mind turning around?”  
Robbie stared at him.  
“I need to reach your leg. Mister.”  
  
Reluctantly, Robbie rolled onto his side. Sportacus beamed happily and started examining the bleeding scratch on his ankle. “Aw, you really had a bad day, huh?” The blue kangaroo let go of the bird momentarily, and cartwheeled over to the sink, damping a cloth in water and returning with yet another unnecessary row of stunts. “Okay, lets get rid of the blood.” Sportacus rubbed the wet fabric over the thin bone and washing off grit and blood. Robbie let out a screech at the sting and his one intact wing flapped over the table, pushing off an apple and a few pens and missing Sportacus face by a few inches. “Hey, hey, you're alright. Look, we're done already.” He took a patch out of his box and applied it on top of the scarf-skinned leg.  
  
“There we go. That wasn't too bad, was it?”  
_Wasn't so bad 'my foot'._ Robbie stood instantly, beginning to ruffle his feathers and smooth them back into place.

“I wish I could bring you back home, but...I think it's the best you stay here for tonight.”  
  
Robbie was given a small improved 'nest' made of rugs and pieces of cotton that Sportacus had pulled out of an old teddybear in his spare closet, with a bowl of water. He had no such thing as seeds. Or cake, apparently. Robbie watched as Sportacus removed his cap, goggles, boots, and sat down onto the bed that appeared from one of the walls. “Well, we should get some sleep. It's been a long day, hm?”  
  
Sleep? Now? It's only a few minutes past eight. What a terrible time to simply fall asleep – past eight was the best part of the day! It was dark and chilly, free of any responsibilities and usually the perfect time for TV specials!  
Robbie watched the man discard his vest, neatly folding and placing it to the rest of his item. This man was...considerably bulky. Lots of curves, taut and soft skin stretching over each muscle. Damn, he could not believe a man could have that many muscles and still look good.  
  
Good? Well, _acceptable!_ Yes, acceptable was the word.  
  
Sportacus flopped down into his bed and drew the blanket up to his chin. “Lights.” Sportacus called into the room. The lamps dimmed down into a soothing gloom. Not too dark. Not too bright. It was the perfect lights-setting that Robbie wished his own, very dark lair would have, being afraid of the darkness. “Goodnight, Mister Raven. Sleep well.”  
  
There was no way Robbie would sleep now. But what else could he do? He couldn't escape, his wing was injured after all. And all that was available to him was a bowl with cold water.  
The raven sat up on slightly wobbly legs, and stood, stepping over his nest, onto the table surface. He jumped down to the floor, with more or less grace, staggered over to the bed, and with huge amount of efforts, Robbie flapped up to reach the top of the bed.  
Sportacus only noticed the raven had left its sleeping place when he felt a weight shift on top of his chest. He looked up and saw the face of his feathery companion. Two electric blue eyes behind a large pointy beak.  
  
“You're not going to poke my eyes out, hm?”  
_No. Not yet at least_. Robbie peered down towards the man. He could pull his mustache out though. Hair by hair.  
A hand rose from the sheets. This time, not to invite him to sit on his finger. Or hold and carry him. A knuckle softly brushed against the side of his neck, and his head. Robbie eyed the finger and deliberated if he should snap at it.

Sportacus brushed the back of his finger softly over the ravens pompadour.  
“You know, I was expecting you to be at least a little prickly; like you were this morning.”  
_Prickly, huh? You don't know how prickly I really can be if –  
_  
Oh.  
  
He felt a second hand, holding him beneath his wing. A soft, lovingly touch. A way nobody had ever touched him before, and in his astonishment, he wouldn't even think about snapping at him. His thumb brushed along the soft feathers there. It tickled. But at the same time, it send a pleasant shiver through his body. Encouraged by the birds calmness, Sportacus carefully nuzzled at the raven's soft plumage on his chest. The bridge of his nose gently pressing into Robbie's temple. He felt his warm breath bristle through his feathers. It was a good feeling. Robbie made a soft croaking sound, one he barely noticed it had left his chest before he could stop it.  
  
“But you're really affectionate, and soft. And loving. I know you are, deep inside.”  
Robbie cooed again. Softer this time. Sportacus fingers gently massaging him into blissful drowsiness.  
"It's probably gonna be hard to let you go again... I already have grown fond of you.”  
  
The next morning, Sportacus woke up at exactly 8.08 am, like every morning. He stretched, put his cap on his head, and blinked his eyes clear from sleep.  
The raven was gone. The nest was empty, and the water bowl was untouched. Sportacus blinked confused. Had the bird left on its own? One of the windows upstairs was always open, to bring fresh air into the airship. Maybe the raven had taken it to slip outside. Sportacus rose from his bed, taking a last look around. No. No sight of the bird.  
  
He did, however, hear something strange.  
  
A strange noise, coming from above, in the second level. Sportacus noticed a stray feather at the pole he used to climb up. Maybe the raven indeed hadn't left, instead however started rampaging inside his home. Sportacus grabbed the pole and started climbing upstairs. Right as he reached the ledge, he froze.  
  
There, standing at his opened fridge, buck-naked, was a man. Standing in front of the fridge, one hand at his tilted hip, the other tapping his chin, the man was humming to himself. He was obviously looking for something.  
For a moment, Sportacus was frozen, hanging mid-air, staring. The man had black hair. It was a little ruffled, but showed traces of gel used in each strand. He was tall and lanky, only slight traces of pudginess around his love handles. He had bandages around his right arm. And his calf. They were hanging a little clumsily and unsteady around his skin, revealing slight traces of wounds in his skin. Cuts. Deep cuts, in vertical lines.  
  
“Gah, does this Sportaderp eat anything _besides_ apples and ...tree-shaped vegetables? Not a trace of some candy or cake. Nothing. How does this man even live without candy!?”  
  
That voice. He knew that voice.  
“R-Robbie?”  
  
Robbie flinched a little, turning his head to the man hanging from the pole and looking up at him with saucer eyes and open jaw. Dammit. He believed Sportacus would sleep a little longer, so Robbie could have left after quickly taking a snack from his fridge, maybe a piece of chocolate or some cookies. But Sportacus obviously did not possess any of these. And now he was caught. The moment he realized who he had across from him, he put on a haughty attitude. Oh well, he had no excuses now. Better tell him the truth straight away.  
  
“Who did you expect? Sportafl--- Uh. _Yourself?_ ”  
  
Robbie's hips swayed slightly to the other side, and Sportacus was caught staring. He blinked, twice. Shook his head like he woke up from a haze. Pushed himself up and finally climbed all the way up until he stood on his feet again.  
“B-But...What are you doing here? Why are you looking through my fridge – why do you---where are your clothes?”  
“Well, _you_ brought me here, for starters.” Robbie leaned back into the fridge, pushing cans and milk bottles aside.  
  
“ _I_ brought you here?” Sportacus stammered.  
  
“You did, indeed. Oh !” Robbie reached far into the back of the fridge, pulling out a glass of honey. “You mind?”  
Sportacus opened his mouth a few times. “I-I uhm...”  
“I take that as a no.” Robbie dipped his fingers inside the honey and suckled it off. “I haven't eaten in _hours!_ And all you apparently eat are fruits and uncooked vegetables. No cake! No sweets – just rabbit chows!”  
  
“But I don't...understand...” Sportacus tried, and failed, to contain eyecontact but instead scanned his eyes over the mans body, starting by the eerily familiar pompadour, curved eyebrows, the bandage wrapped around the mans arm, the pale, but soft and pristine skin stretched over a few slight definition of muscles and fat, definitely avoiding anything below the mans navel – and straight to his obviously injured leg.  
  
“You're hurt.” Sportacus said. “Wh-When--?”  
“Well, glad you took notice of that finally – to answer your question now; it was a cat. Teddy, I think he was called...It's one of your brats' pet.”  
“Q-Question? Leg? I – Wait. Teddy is Ziggy's cat!”  
“Well then, you should let the candyboy know I'm gonna make myself a new pair of boots out of that pussycat.”  
“Wh-What? But why?”  
“Huh, maybe because it _bit_ me? Seriously Sportacus, you can't possibly have the mind of a toddler, can you?”  
  
Suddenly, with a resounding click in his mind, Sportacus understood. His eyes grew even wider. His mustache twitched a few times.  
  
“You... _You_ were the raven?” he stammered.  
“Yes.” Robbie answered, a little more somber than before. “Took you a while to figure it out, huh? Well, granted; I didn't mean for you to find it out, actually. It was my last resort, as a villain at least. But you have to come and ruin my plans each time, don't you?”  
“How is that possible?” Sportacus blurted before the other could even finish his sentence.  
  
Robbie hesitated. Should he tell him? Should he tell him about his magic, and his tricks, and who and what he really was? For some reason, the villain was afraid of what the superhero would think of him then. He most probably would shun him away, for sure. Afraid that he would be a threat to the children, that he would glamour them, or harm them. He had never ever set his nearly non-existent magic on anybody besides himself, and that was all he ever intended to. Fine, that, and maybe sometimes, he would teleport from one point of town to the other. But that was it. Robbie heaved a sigh, his shoulders slumping, and he placed the jar back in the fridge, closing its door.  
  
“That is not yours to worry about, Sportaflop. But just so we are clear --” He approached him, suddenly, his finger raised threateningly. Naked thighs brushed his own. Sportacus even had to lean backwards a little to not get squished against Robbie's menacingly tall form.  
  
“You will not tell anybody, do you hear me? Nobody. Not the kids, not your pink friend, not the mayor and his garrulous tattletail that hogs his front yard. _Not. A single. Word._ Are we clear, Sportablurt?”  
  
Sportacus only managed a weak nod.  
“Good.” Robbie turned around again, took in a deep breath, and with a flick of his finger, his long form collapsed in a pouring wave of feathers, morphing into the large raven with the black-lilac plumage and the pompadour on his head. He fluttered to the top of the windowsill and pushed the window aside.  
  
“W-Wait! Wait.”  
The raven turned his head by hundred-eighty degrees to look at the superhero. A strange act, knowing that bird had previously the anatomy of a human after all.  
“What about your wing? Your leg? You think...you think you will be alright?”  
Robbie blinked slowly at him, flicking his beak up in the air. Sportacus supposed it was his way of nodding. The crow gave a last croak, deep and rustling, and slipped through the open window outside.

* * *

 _“Robbie Rotten!”_ The kids gasped, a little startled, but mostly invested in eating their ice cream. The mustache on Robbie's lip had fallen off, revealing who that strange, so called 'ice cream seller' really was. 

“Yes, it's me. Big surprise...!” Robbie shook his head with a deep sigh as he tore the apron off of his shoulders. His disguise was yet again dropped at the worst moment, and his plan to set Sportacus into a sugar meltdown by offering the children sugar-free, healthy strawberry ice cream, and Sportacus a cone with purest sugar, was foiled again.  
  
 “Ugh, time to think of something else...” he mumbled, as he exited the ice cream truck he had made out of cardboard.  
Stephanie was the first to notice that Robbie was walking a little funny. Leaning heavily on one leg, the other barely making contact with the floor, and if it did, he shuffled quickly back on his other leg.  
  
“Robbie, hold on!” Stephanie scooted after him.  
“What is it _now,_ Pinkie?” Robbie hissed.  
“Are you okay? You look like you're hurt.”  
“Listen, kiddo, I have lost any contacts to my emotional senses, if that's what you're concerned about --”  
“No, I mean your leg.” she pointed down onto his right foot. “You're limping.”  
  
“Didn't your mother teach you it's _rude_ to point out when people _limp_?”  
  
“I-I, uhm...”  
  
“No, I am perfectly fine. This is...my new tactic. Yes. Moving only one leg at a time! Have you tried it? It reduces your physical efforts by at least fifty percent, no sore feet, no aching muscles.”  
“I see...and you're sure you're okay, Robbie? We could bring you to a doctor, perhaps.”  
  
“I'm _always_ okay, Pinkie--”  
  
“Hi Robbie.”  
  
“Aaaand I'm miserable again.”  
  
Sportacus had flipped over the fountain and over the small stone fence towards them, and came to a stop only inches before Robbies toes. The villain 'eep'-ed and tumbled backwards, his injured leg groaning in protest, flinging him out of balance –  
“Oh!” Sportacus' hands stretched out, wrapping around Robbie's torso, just before he would tumble to the floor.  
Robbie found himself being awkwardly held, dipped, and faces parallel.  
  
“Oh. Err.” the superhero quickly straightened both of them again, setting Robbie down on his feet again.  
“Do not... do that again.”  
“Sorry, Robbie. Sometimes I miscalculate distances.” Sportacus awkwardly rubbed his neck.  
Robbie huffed. Neither of them spoke for a moment. Stephanie decided to leave the two on their own, and keeping Stingy away from grabbing the rest of the ice cream and declare it as his property.  
  
“Say, did you make that ice cream?” Just now did Robbie realize the superhero was actually holding onto one of the cones, definitely not the one Robbie had specifically made for him.  
Robbie rolled his eyes. “Yes. I did.”  
“These are amazing.” Sportacus beamed. “No sugar, real fruits – this was really, really nice of you, Robbie. The kids really needed some refreshment, it's a hot day.”  
“These weren't for--- Gah, you know what? You're welcome. Whatever...”  
  
Robbie 'tsk'-ed, and crossed his arms over his chest. Silence again. “So, uhm...how are you feeling? How's your wi—arm. Your arm I mean.”  
“It's _fine_ , Sportakook. It's my leg that's giving me some troubles...” The villain rubbed at his knee. “Ugh, you'd think cat scratches aren't even that bad.”  
“You know, if you like, you could come to my airship later, and let me change the bandages.”  
  
Robbie flinched. Him? Back there? In that flying metal watermelon? With him?  
The villain bit his lip, very confident about the answer he was about to give. No. As usual. No interactions with that pleb and his meddling kids. But... That said 'pleb' also had saved his life last night, whether Robbie liked to admit it or not. And he still cared for him, after he had bitten him and scratched him and left his fridge in a messy state.  
Robbie finally looked back at Sportacus, those same mesmerizing blue eyes of the taller man blinking slowly at him.  
  
“You have not told the kid, have you?”  
“Me? No. I haven't. I promise.”  
“Good.” And then, he sighed. “Alright. You can change my bandages, if it makes you sleep at night. But you won't get me to enter that flying death trap of yours again.”  
  
“That's alright. I can visit you later at your house. Oh...” Sportacus looked down at his spontaneously blinking crystal. “Someone's in trouble!” He quickly pressed the ice cream cone into Robbie's hand and flip-flopped past him. “See you later, Robbie!"  
Robbie's finger were sticky from the ice cream melting over his knuckles. He did not really mind that moment. A smile had dared to cross his feature, small, and lopsided, and Robbie quickly tried to drown it with another huffed: "Whatever."

 


	2. With such name as “Nevermore”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, there's more !!
> 
> I wrote this on my phone on the plane during night time, so its...yeah its not really plot-heavy.  
> But there will be more, next chapter! I promise!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, its un-beta'd and written by a non-native speaker, so sorry if I'm messing up stuff

As Sportacus had announced it, the superhero stood at the villains hatch, around midday. The box of medical supplies under his arm. “Robbie?” he knocked against the metallic door.  
Two bug eyes suddenly scooted up on Sportacus' eye level. The superhero jumped a little, though by now he was fully accustomed to the periscope ever so often peering behind a wall or a bush, appearing, and then vanishing again out of sheer nowhere. Sportacus' lips stretched into his usual smile again. He leaned far into the periscope's sight.  
  
“Robbie, it's me. I came to change the bandages, remember? Or...is it a bad timing right now? I could come back later and --”  
_Click._  
  
The periscope vanished, and the locks at the hatch opened with a metallic wheeze. Sportacus opened it effortlessly, climbing into the duct and sliding down the metallic surface until the ground approached quickly, and with a series of flips, landing on his hands and ending his little arrival sequence with a flexible cartwheel and gracefully landing on his feet in front of the orange armchair. Robbie wasn't there.  
  
“Huh? Robbie?” He asked. His voice bounced off the metallic walls and drowned somewhere in the far far ceiling above him. “ Did he leave perhaps? Hm, but who opened the hatch then?” He wondered.  
A loud croak echoed from far above him. Sportacus threw his head in his neck, watched as a small shadow gracefully hovered above him for several seconds before landing on, what Sportacus could only assume, was a TV set hanging from the ceiling by a long metallic arm.  
  
“Robbie.” Sportacus grinned. “There you are. I almost thought you left at short notice.”  
The raven hopped along the frame of the TV, before spreading his wings, one wrapped in tattered bandages. He pushed himself off, into the air, began slowly gliding down in a rather graceful spiral-form, and slipped beneath the hem of a set of clothes that were lying on the floor. A burst of feathers blew out of the sleeves and the collar, slowly taking form and transforming into the physique of a lanky human. Robbie sighed, adjusted the night gown around his frame by pulling the cords tighter and smoothed down his hair. He threw a glance at the superhero. On Sportacus face reflected deepest admiration, curiosity, happiness perhaps too. His mouth was wide open in a bright smile.  
  
“Close that mouth of yours before flies get inside.”  
“Robbie, this is...fantastic.” the superhero praised. “You can _fly!_ Without any help of technology, or airships, or anything.”  
Robbie was not used to have people admire his powers actually, hence he wasn't completely sure how to react for a moment. He decided to screw up his nose and sneered.  
“Yes, yes I can fly, well, at least I _could,_ once!” he raised his right arm and pulled the old bandages off. The cuts were deep, purple and green-ish marks spread under the skin from heavy impact.. But they were healing, at least. “Now all I can do is _hover_!”  
“But how did you get all the way up there?” Sportacus pointed up to the TV set ten feet above their heads.

“Oh what a stupid question! Raven's can _climb_ , as a matter of fact! It may not work like _you_ may do it, but I do know how to hop from one surface to the other.”  
Sportacus' face suddenly contoured into something stranger than unconditional happiness – Worry.  
  
“What?” Robbie frowned.  
“You were climbing? With a broken wing?” Sportacus frowned.  
“I...did, yes.” Robbie's eyes moved from left to right in mild befuddlement. “So what?”  
“You could have hurt yourself.” Sportacus blurted. “You could have slipped and fallen. And you could have broken your other wing, or your other leg. Or all two legs and wings. Or your spine, or --”  
  
“Oh, give me a break, Sportacus.” Robbie rolled his eyes as he slumped down into his armchair. “I am not one of your meddling kids, compared to them, I am completely in control of everythi--” He was pushing a bit too far with his foot on the floor, for the armchair was toppling backwards, and Robbie gave a sudden surprised squawk. Sportacus reached out and caught a hold of the armrest and pulled the chair back into position.  
  
“--Ahem, as you can see, in full control.” Robbie finished after digesting the shock from previous experience.  
  
Sportacus knew, he should trust Robbie, but nevertheless, seeing how terribly vulnerable the man, or raven, had been just yesterday, somehow set his alertness at its peak.  
“Either way...” Robbie commented, and slowly uncrossed his legs. “Weren't you going to get to what you came here for? Or are you going to keep lecturing me?”  
  
“Huh? Oh. Yes, right!” Sportacus pulled the nearest chair, which was an equally orange and fluffy footrest, across from Robbie, and sat down. A little bit uncertain as to how to progress from there, Sportacus looked up at Robbie, the moment he had leaned down to reach for him. It hadn't been much of an issue yesterday, he had been a raven, and Sportacus was not aware that it was actually a man. Robbie read the uncertainty in his face. With a soft sigh and his eyelids falling close, he slowly raised his leg and placed it on top of Sportacus strong thigh.  
  
“Thanks.” he smiled a little wobbly. “Just tell me when I accidentally hurt you ”, and proceeded to unwrap the bandages around the mans leg. A small bit of blood had oozed through. Nothing alarming, yet Sportacus promised to be eminently preciser this time. The cuts were still deep, by now, dark purple blotches had formed around each vertical line along the mans calf. Sportacus bit his lip. He wondered if Robbie was actually in pain, and simply wouldn't show it. Sportacus' crystal was only able to pick up emotions of distress, mostly in relation to somebody being in trouble. Sadly, physical pain and harm was a little harder for the crystal to pick up, it's always been rather easy with children, but grown ups, that was a little harder.  
Maybe Robbie simply did not _want_ to be detected by the crystals alarms.  
  
“Robbie?”  
“Hm?”  
Sportacus paused for a moment. He carefully wrapped his hand around the mans ankle and held the fresh new bandage in place as he wrapped the new, fresh bandage around the mans shin. He was pale; even the skin on his feet and legs was pale.

“I know you said it's none of my business, but...” Sportacus looked up to the man. Robbie did not look at him. “You...aren't exactly like...the others. Right?”  
  
That question sounded probably very offensive if Robbie picked it up with the wrong context.  
“No, by all means, I'm not.” Robbie laughed shortly. “I definitely am not six years old and loud and nosy and _gullible_. Like your parade of munchkins.”  
“That's not what I mean, Robbie.” Sportacus corrected him. “I mean...you have magic. Don't you?”  
“Who _doesn't_ have magic in this time and century.” Robbie played it off casually. “Everyone has magic nowadays. Even the _milkman_ has magic.”  
  
“The kids don't have magic.” Sportacus said. “Neither does the mayor. Or Miss Busybody. Or anybody in Lazytown.”  
Robbie still didn't look at him. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest. He pouted. Something Sportacus couldn't help but find uncharacteristically cute on Robbie's face.  
“And how would _you_ know? Maybe they pull rabbits out of their hats when you don't look, and saw young women in half behind the supermarket.”  
  
“I know, because I know what magic is. And who knows it, and who doesn't.”  
Robbie finally turned his head to look back at the man who fixed the bandages around his leg, slowly, tightly, but not uncomfortably tight.  
  
“I am magical.” Sportacus added then. Robbie's eyebrows lifted slightly.  
“Oh.” Robbie said. More of a statement, rather than a question.  
“You haven't noticed? I mean, the kids, I can understand. They are still young, but I thought at least you would--”  
Robbie blinked slowly at him.  
“I figured it's not common for humans to survive on sportscandy alone, or run at fast speeds like I do--”  
  
“I _have_ noticed, Sportadork.” Robbie rolled his eyes, and slumped into his armchair.  
“Oh.” Sportacus said - more of a statement rather than a question, as well. For a while, neither spoke. Robbie completely concentrated on the touch of Sportacus' hands that fixed the bandage and proceeded to scoot closer to take Robbies arm.  
  
“So...what is it?” Robbie asked then. “Pixie? Nah, you're too big for a Pixie. Maybe a changeling? Or a goblin? ...Oh, don't tell me you're a werewolf, or one of those ugly hairy misfits--”  
“What? No. I'm not a werewolf. Or a Pixie.” Sportacus chuckled softly. “I'm...well...” he rubbed over his neck. “I'm an elf. A sports-elf.”  
“Sport-what?”  
“Sports-elf.” Sportacus repeated.  
“Ahh....never heard of that.” Robbie shrugged and slumped back into his chair.  
  
“We aren't exactly well known honestly.” Sportacus admitted a little bashful. “There are only a handful of us, most of us become superheroes, or adapt to the human world completely, since – well...we are the closest to humans without using glamours.”  
He pushed the sleeves of the night gown up to reveal the maltreated skin on the man's entire forearm and biceps. The cuts were, like on his leg, coated with deep colorations and seemed to hurt whenever Sportacus brushed his finger at the wrong spot.  
Sportacus dipped Iodine on a patch of cotton and carefully pressed it into the wounds. Robbie hissed and bit his lower lip.  
  
“ _Gnngh!_ A little forewarning would have been nice!” Robbie whined.  
“I'm sorry Robbie. I'm almost done, hang in there.” Sportacus dabbed the cotton ball around each cut thoroughly, cleaning it of any dirt or dust that might have got stuck in the irritated skin during Robbie's climbing adventures.  
While Sportacus wrapped Robbie's arm in fabric, he pondered. Well, now that Sportacus had revealed to him what he actually was, which was not much of Robbie's surprise, he always somehow had that feeling that he was not the only magical creature in this town ever since he appeared, he felt obligated to tell him what he was, in return.  
  
Why though? They weren't anything like friends, or family, or anything in relation besides perhaps their titles. Him being the villain, and Sportacus being the hero. Nothing more but pure professionalism. So..  
Why did it feel so right to tell him about it? Why did he trust him like this? He merely had fixed him up and took him in when he was in trouble, that was no reason to let any of his guards down.  
  
“You don't have to tell me, Robbie.” Sportacus suddenly said, and smiled. Robbie obviously made a strange face, as Sportacus stopped wrapping for a moment to observe him.  
Was reading minds part of sport-elf's powers, Robbie wondered?  
“Tell what?” Robbie feigned ignorance.  
“Tell me if you're magical or not.” The superhero smiled at him again. Whenever he smiled, it appeared as if his eyes were smiling too. Everything beamed and sparkled, brighter than the stars and sweet and handsome. That simply had to be one of the elf's powers as well.  
“I...” Robbie muttered. Shook his head like a wet dog; and crossed his arms again. “I _know_ I don't have to.” Robbie quickly said then. “Are you done yet?” he eyed the mans hands around his arm.  
“Ah, yes, almost.”  
  
Sportacus took a clip from the box and tugged it between the bandages to keep them together. “There we go. I hope they will stay around your arm when you're a raven as well.”  
“Hmph, only one way to figure that out.” Robbie pulled leg and arm away from Sportacus, and took in a deep steeling breath – his form was completely falling apart into a veil of black feathers, the night gown slumping into a wrinkled pool on the armchair, and beneath one of the sleeves, the head of the avian poked out. It was, certainly, still the bird he had rescued last night.  
  
He recognized that funny little pompadour on the ravens head, and the slight fluff on the bridge of the ravens beak. Robbie crowed at him. Sportacus couldn't help, he beamed like a child at the sight of the bird that was the towns villain only seconds ago.  
Robbie adjusted his wings – the bandages, luckily, clung to the bones and muscles and leg just perfectly. Robbie even spread them slowly to rest it out, stretched them until it began to hurt, and tugged them back against his body. Robbie tried to adjust a stray feather into the bandage.  
  
“Oh! Let me help you. Come here.” Sportacus held his hand towards the bird. Robbie looked at him as if the superhero's mere hand had just insulted him and his entire bloodline.  
_What do I look like to you? A pet?_ Robbie stabbed his beak at his indexfinger, not hard, but hard enough to make Sportacus flinch.  
“Ow. Okay, not the hand. Then...maybe like this?” he raised his arm and crooked it to offer the bird his forearm to rest on. Robbie tilted his head from right to left for a moment, before he decided he did not like that either. _No. Makes me look even more like some circus attraction._

Robbie flicked his hind-feathers up and down and puffed out his chest.  
“Not good?” Sportacus asked, and his arm went limp. Robbie hopped up to the armrest, and with a few awkward flaps, the bird landed back there, where they both first had met – on Sportacus' shoulder.

Now that is a place for an animal. He had a good view from here, and a very empowering stance. He could poke and peck him in the nose and ears whenever he did not like what Sportacus did or said, he could snatch his hat off, he could be carried around...  
“Alright, shoulder it is, I see.” Sportacus grinned, and began to adjust the feather beneath the stripe of fabric.

Robbie stretched and flexed his wing, flapping up and down in order to get used to old patterns again. It hurt. It stung and didn't feel right, but eventually, he would have to get back to flying. Otherwise he would have to be stuck at the ground forever, and before he knew, he would be grabbed by cats and dogs and eagles, though he never had seen any birds bigger than himself anywhere near the town. But he did know there were cats and dogs around.  
In a sudden spontaneous moment, Sportacus felt long feathers slap against his cheek as the raven pushed himself off of his shoulder into the air. The sports-elf flinched at the sudden loud ruffled noises of feathers and a loud croak from the ravens throat.  
  
“Robbie!” Sportacus quickly reached for him. “You shouldn't try flying, Robbie, your arm is --”  
Robbie's movement were erratic and it was evident his wing was hindering him. He was tilting to the right mid-air, his height was increasing as he aimed for the next surface to grab onto, which was the armchair. Sportacus ran after him, arms open. As he predicted, Robbie didn't make it even close. He ended up flying straight into a wall. He gave a surprised crow, and fell to the floor. “Robbie!” Sportacus barely had time to even catch the bird, he had been so fast and sudden. He knelt down and, without caring about possible pecks and stabs from that beak again, he touched him. Robbie flapped his wings a few times in a vast attempt to push himself off from his back and back onto his feet. But after a short moment, he found himself hovering again – not by his own accord though. He was lying on his back, cradled in Sportacus' arm like an infant.  
  
“Robbie, what were you thinking? You can't fly yet, your wing is still injured.”  
The raven was shivering. “Are you hurt?” he asked, but Robbie barely answered, not even a slight sound, not a coo or a crow, he didn't even peck or nibble at his finger as he offered it. The bird simply blinked rapidly and trembled against his arm. Sportacus carried him over to the armchair and sat him down. Robbie's legs felt wobbly as he tried to stand on them on won accords. Everything was spinning. He barely noticed hands at his skull or pawing at the rest of his body. “No broken bones.” Sportacus mumbled. “You probably got your head knocked pretty had though.”  
  
He was right about that at least, Robbie had to blink several times to push the dizziness out of his view. Sportacus was petting him again. His thumb brushed comfortingly over the top of his head and his pompadour. Usually, Robbie wasn't a fan of touches, but in this moment, he couldn't protest. He melted slightly into that soft rubbing against his aching head.  
A strange sound gurgled out of him. A sound that could be the flowing of water, mixed with a coo, and Sportacus put this strange look back on his face, that big eyed, eyebrow creased, pitiful glance. He had seen it on his face a few times, usually when he was sad or even heartbroken, and it always felt like someone was clenching his heart, simply by looking at him.  
  


* * *

  
Even though he could imagine Sportacus had better things to do than caring for an injured bird at the midst of day, inside a big gloomy lair, he stayed, nevertheless.  
“Robbie, is this all you have in your fridge?” Sportacus asked and pulled a plate with cake from the cabinet. He looked considerably concerned, but the bird only chirped in confirmation.  
_It still tastes better than any of your rancid vegetables in 'your' fridge!  
_ He was sitting awkwardly in Sportacus cap, the elf had arranged it into a nest, or at least he believed this was what nests should be. Robbie's chest feathers kept fluffing up into his face and his retrices were a big too big to fit into the cap. But at least, he was kept warm, and was immobilized from any further attempts to fly.

Sportacus pushed a few of his golden locks out of his eyes, and leaned further into the fridge to find anything, anything besides cakes and cookies and candies. The lair was filled with the strange , click-clacking that Robbie had made as he was petted, but continued it even after Sportacus had stopped touching him. It was a strange sound, it reminded him of water flowing in a small creek, and the soft cooing and clicking of machinery. Was Robbie imitating a sound? Birds, especially intelligent birds, were able to pick up sounds they heard frequently. Maybe Robbie was trying to tell him something? Sportacus wondered if Robbie may be thirsty, seeing as he clearly imitated the sound of water. He poured water into a tumbler and held it towards him. The raven threw him a gaze that could have cut through glass. Almost offended, the raven looked between the tumbler and Sportacus.  
  
“Are you thirsty?” he asked. Robbie croaked angrily at him, feathers ruffled and puffed and he wiggled with his wings.  
“Apparently not.” Sportacus mumbled with a surprised face, and set the tumbler aside.  
“What's wrong then?”  
  
Robbie blinked and tilted his head. Only after a moment did Sportacus realize he tilted his head towards the fridge. Sportacus looked between the two. “You're wondering what I'm doing at your fridge?” he asked. Robbie nodded. “Well, it's noon, and you should eat something that's not made of dough and sugar for once. It's not good for you, especially for birds, and especially for injured birds.”  
But Robbie did not want to eat, nor did he want to be told by him what he should eat or not. 

It seemed the sports-elf eventually found something, way back in the last row. And once he pulled it into sight, Robbie groaned internally. Oh no, he found the smoked herring. Ugh, and he had hidden it so well! He had once bought it on accident, thinking they were just a box of jalapenos, and had been to embarrassed – and lazy - to bring it back. Instead he just hid it behind a jar of honey and hoped it would run bad at some point so he had a good excuse to get rid of something so expensive.  
  
What would Robbie use jalapenos for though, you wonder? Obviously for one of his schemes to get rid of the sports-elf - What else?  
  
“Well, it's not really a good substitute to sportscandy, but--”  
Sportacus opened the box. _Oh no..._  
“But my Pabbi always ate fish completely raw. And he had been even stricter with diets.” Sportacus fetched a fork.  
_Oh good heavens, no..._  
  
Sportacus stabbed into the fish's meat and tried a few bites. “Mh, very good.” he smiled. “I'm not the biggest fan of meat, but..”  
Robbie observed the man approaching. Uh oh...  
“But you should try a few bites. You're a bird, you are a carnivore”  
_No I'm not, I'm a 'candy'vore!_ Robbie tried wiggling out of his nest.  
Sportacus pulled the footrest closer to the armchair and sat down. He picked up a few more bits of the fish onto the fork, and held it into Robbie's direction. “You want to try it?”  
_No!_ Robbie puckered his feathers until he looked like an angry ball of fluff. _Get that salty slime out of my face!_

“Come on, Robbie. You haven't eaten anything, and it's almost noon. You should at least try a bit.”  
_I'm not going to eat something that has eyes and is 'staring' at me_ _!_  
Robbie hid his head beneath his wing and played dead and deaf. Sportacus frowned, and lowered the fork again. “Look. If I eat some, will you eat too?”  
Robbie peeked between his long feathers back at him.  
  
Sportacus cut the filet in half, chopping his own in smaller bits and ate. It was obvious that Sportacus really rather preferred vegetables over fish, but nevertheless, he smiled while he chewed.  
Robbie knew it was no use sharing something with him if he knew it was disgusting. Anything Sportacus liked was disgusting, and anything Robbie liked, Sportacus wouldn't even want to touch.  
Robbie's stomach growled. Well, now that he mentioned it, actually – he was pretty hungry. And this actually didn't look _that_ bad. Like minced beef, perhaps. And while Robbie hopped closer to stab his peak into the corner of the fish, he imagined that's exactly what it was – something greasy and hefty and bursting with flavor.  
  
He didn't chew. He just gulped it down forcefully. The taste of salt, mixed with the abnormally yucky taste of fish lingered inside his beak. Robbie shook his head. Ugh, yep, definitely bursting with flavor. Not the good kind though. But his stomach rumbled louder, asking for more.  
They ate in silence, and after a while, Robbie snuggled back into the blue cap, and began cooing again, clicking and gurgling.  
Sportacus felt titillated to ask what these sounds meant. Perhaps though, it was very impolite to simply ask a bird why he cooed. Maybe it was the same with asking the mayor why he stuttered sometimes, or pointing out that Trixie had very large gap between her front teeth – simply rude.  
  
“Hey, uhm...the kids and I will go and play some dodgeball later. Would you like to join?”  
Robbie blinked at him. Ugh, anything that involved a ball was deadly for a bird, didnt he know that?! It was like he was a magnet for balls, they simply always found their way into his tree, and into the air, when he was flying.  
“Oh, you don't have to play with us of course, you can sit and watch if you like.” Sportacus added. “And … I will make sure the kids won't shoot the ball to hard. They wont hit you – I promise.”  
Was this guy seriously forgetting who he was talking to here? He was the villain, the one that didn't just join him on games, and actually tried his almighty best to spoil it for him and the brats. He never said yes, always no, no matter how much and how often he asked. And he asked, a lot. Every time.  
  
Why...Why was he like this? Robbie's feathers puckered again, just at the thought of it, it frustrated him for some reason. He looked like an angry squeaky toy inside Sportacus' cap.  
“H-Hey, Robbie, you don't have to, of course, I was just asking. Maybe you wouldn't feel so lonely--”  
_I'm not 'lonely!'_ Robbie clicked his beak rapidly. He wasn't lonely, he told himself again. Not lonely! Robbie's head slumped and he made a noise that might sounded like a sigh. And then the raven moved out of the cap and hopped up Sportacus arm and onto his shoulder.  
_Fine then. I'll watch. And for every ball that hits me, I will tear out one tuft of hair from your stupid mustache!_

 

* * *

“So uh...You befriended the bird that bit you?” Ziggy raised his eyebrow.

“I did, yes.” Sportacus proudly put his fists into his sides. But Robbie didn't even deign a look at the children. “He's not that much of a bad guy actually. He's very inteligent, and calm and humble, and very cuddly! We even shared lunch. And he makes really funny noises! Ro—Uh, Mister Raven! Show them your funny noises!”  
_Kiss my ass, Sportaflop!_ Robbie kept his beak shut tightly.  
  
“Aw, well. Maybe he does it later again.” Sportacus grinned.  
Everyone frowned at the way the superhero obviously bathed in enthusiasm over his new acquired friendship with this wild animal that seemed anything but happy about it. Everyone – except Stephanie. She shared her friends enthusiasm, happy to see him finding more friends round town – even if it was an animal. She was reaching out to gently rub over the raven's beak. “He really is sweet! It's so nice of you that you nurse him back to health, Sportacus.”  
Sportacus chuckled humbly, and forget to mind the confused and skeptical glances of the other children.  
  
“That is why I asked you all to be careful when you throw the ball – Mister Raven is really injured, and he needs his rest, so we shouldn't stress him further, or grab him forcefully, and we mustn't hit him with the ball, okay?”  
Robbie narrowed his eyes at the Pink girl. He deliberated if he should peck her finger, or simply hop over to the other shoulder of the superhero, for he really did not like having his beak touched. Especially not by the children with their sticky, greasy, gem-festered fingers.  
  
But luckily, he was freed of the touches, and the scrutinizing glances of the other children, as they started their game. Robbie sat on the bench, and was leaning against a pink backpack, undoubtedly Stephanie's ones. It smelled of roses and vanilla and it stung in Robbie's eye, so he rather started concentrating on the game in front of him. It seemed simple – dodge the ball and throw it back on the other side. That's probably why its called 'dodgeball'. What a terribly unoriginal name.  
  
They could have rather called it 'throw the ball hard enough and maybe you'll knock out a tooth or two', for Trixie accidentally threw the ball into Stingy's face and broke off a milktooth.  
Stingy didn't even cry, he simply stared happily at the tooth as blood gushed down his chin. “Whoa guyff, look! My ffecond milktoof and it'f _mine!_ ”, and the game was paused to get tissues and clean him up.  
  
Robbie noticed whiskers poking out of the shrub next to him. Two round, silver, dull eyes stared from behind a few thin branches. Two slits, tightly narrowed. Approaching slowly  
The raven collapsed in a shower of feathers, and a naked, very angry looking man sat there where the very yummy looking bird just had sat.  
  
“I double dare you, if I catch you sneaking on me again, I will grab you by the tail and pin you to the next wall, you mangy, little rat!” He hissed.  
The cat gave a startled meowing sound, the hair on its back spiking up in shock, and the cat fled, crashing out of the bush and clamoring in fear as the beast galloped away.  
  
“Huh? Hey, Teddy! Where are you going?” Ziggy called after his cat, and threw a confused glance over to the bench. But all he saw was the raven, cackling joyfully and ruffling his feathers in the pleasant warmth of the sun.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Audible reference for Robbies strange 'cooing sounds'  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQgPy79Oxx4


	3. On the morrow she will leave, as my Hopes have flown before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love is in the air, yet only one person on earth isn't eminently happy to participate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, its un-beta'd and written by a non-native speaker, so sorry if I'm messing up stuff

Like everyday of the week, Robbie rested on top of the lowest branch of the trees, observing the surroundings, and dodging flying objects. Winter was leaving fast, and spring approached, snow was still falling, but not to extends that the children would stay inside their houses anymore to play videogames and watch TV. That had been, after a long while, the only time Robbie had felt at peace. Especially now that he was fully healed again.  
  
Common trips to the snowy woods and country side had been his daily routine, and Sportacus would alert the children whenever Robbie's distant crows and coos echoed through the forest and into town, so they would turn down the volume and just listen for a while. His distant singing was both eerie, and fascinating. The children grew bored of it at some points, but Sportacus didn't, Sportacus leaned out the window with a bright smile on his face and eavedropped.  
  
But now the weather cleared, the sun came back and the temperatures became gradually warmer. The children were playing baseball, another one of those terrible sports that involved swinging, throwing, knocking balls at dangerous velocities through the air. Stephanie was holding a large baseball bat over her shoulder, waited for Sportacus at the other side of the field to throw the ball, and with a long, powerful swing, she wielded her bat and hauled the ball far, far away over the meadow.  
  
Stingy ran for it, trying to catch the ball while Pixel was running over four panels on the floor as fast as he could. Robbie did not like this game, and no matter how long he stared at it and tried to follow the course of event, or dare he say, try to understand the rules, the more boring it appeared. Ugh. If they had to do boring and strenuous activities, couldn't they at least try to make it a little interesting? Even watching was setting Robbie into a half-slumber, so he decided to take a small trip over to that opened chipsbag that probably belonged to the candyboy. He sailed down, spreading his wings and hovering a few inches above the ground, lifting up enough to flap above Sportacus in circles.  
  
“Sportacus, look!” The kids stopped their play in order to point at the black feathery blur flying above the superhero's head.  
Sportacus lifted his head. A smile spread over his face as he realized who had joined them.  
  
“Hi Ro-- Mister Raven.” He quickly corrected himself.  
Right. The kids still didn't know, and respecting Robbie's wish, he would not tell them for now, and certainly wouldn't get caught blurting it out by accident, either. The raven crowed in response, dropped down mid air, spread his wings right before he would fall too low, and with a graceful flick of his talons, the raven had snatched the hero's cap off of his head.  
  
“Hey!” Sportacus giggled, holding a hand over his mane of locks. The raven dropped the cap a few feet across the road, and proceeded to flap away, landing on the bench and goggled the kids' backpacks.  
  
“Isn't that the one who bit you before?” Pixel asked.  
  
“Yeah, that should be him.” Sportacus grinned while tugging his cap back on. “Which bird else has such a strange obsession with stealing my hat.”  
  
The hero put his fists in his sides and grinned widely at the bird. By now, the kid had somehow grown used to the sight of Sportacus interacting with the black creature, often finding him standing beneath a tree and talking up to the bird as if he was an actual conversational partner, or seeing him with the bird sitting comfortably on his shoulder.  
Everyone was a little skeptic, whenever the bird was hanging around their superhero, besides Stephanie. She just thought it was a cute sight to see Sportacus had adopted the raven. Or, well, more like the raven had adopted him.  
  
“Hey, my chips!” Ziggy clamored, dropped the ball and waddled over to the bench. That pulled Sportacus out of his daydreaming and thus he noticed the moment as Robbie pulled his head out of the bag, one large chip in his beak.  
  
“Mister Raven!” Sportacus crossed his arms. “Are you _stealing_ behind our backs? That is not very nice of you! Come on, drop the chip!”  
But the raven hissed, for he wasn't a damn dog that would just obey to his will. He was aching for some snack, so he grabbed two more, and flapped off, to the nearest branch of the tree, where no one could reach him.  
  
“Sorry, Ziggy.” Sportacus apologized on his regards.  
“Ah, it's alright. He's probably hungry.” Ziggy shrugged, and smiled. “You should really train him to listen to your commands though, Sportacus!” Trixie suggested. “That would be so cool! I always wanted a friend who has a pet bird!”  
  
That did alert Robbie's attention, and he momentarily stopped chopping the chip in smaller bits to swallow, instead listening closely.  
“Trixie, he's not my pet.” Sportacus admitted. “I can't just tell him where to go and what to do.”  
  
“Why not?” Trixie frowned. “He hangs around you all the time.” - “Because he's a wild animal.”  
_Damn right, I am._ Robbie stabbed his beak into the chips and broke them apart. Who did this little brat think he was? His property?  
“But he seems to used to your presence.” Stephanie added. She too believed taking the raven as a pet seemed like a good idea.

“Well, maybe. But I do not believe he would be happy if I forced him to stay with me, you know?”  
Robbie pondered over that possibility for a moment. Him? With Sportacus together in one large airship? No candy, only sports, high up in the clouds?  
The fact that he seemed to be 'so used to his presence' and 'hanging around him all the time', that was straight up the brats very bright imagination. He wasn't around Sportacus _that_ much. Besides, it was him who always started talking to him. Tsk. Children and their minds.  
  
In his busy pecking and inner ranting, Robbie hadn't noticed a second bird had landed on the same branch close to him. Another raven. Jet black feathers with a blue tint to its plumage. A little smaller than Robbie.  
It was a female raven, who eyed the others meal with curiosity. Did he catch all that by his own, she seemed to wonder. Well, not really wonder, but figure with respectful astonishment.  
  
Astonishment went to admiration. And admiration went to interest. Such a good looking young bird he was. Such nice, smooth plumage, such an admirable beak. And that pompadour! What a handsome image of a man!  
  
Robbie lifted his head once he was aware of the others presence. The raven blinked at him and hopped a little closer. Robbie stayed unmoved. He noticed her eyes switched between his face, and the food. Was she going to try and take his food away? _No! It's mine! I stole it with hard labor and at the peril of my life! (_ Ziggy's little sticky candy hands were pretty lethal! ) He was not going to share !  
  
Robbie stepped a few steps along the branch, away from her, with most of his chips crumbs in his beak. The female followed. Robbie moved a few feet away again, and she did the same. Robbie croaked. She croaked back, blinking. She stretched her beak towards him. What the heck was she doing?  
  
_No, no no, don't invade my personal space, woman!_ Robbie flapped his wing. But that barely interested the female. Her beak ever so gently started nipping at Robbie's, cleaning off a few bits of potato chips. The nipping went to a gentle prying at his beak, asking to be fed.  
  
Robbie pulled away, shook his head. He once again began pushing himself further and further away from her and down the slowly narrow growing branch. All the way, until his feet had little to no branch left to hold onto, feeling he was dipping a little down from his own weight on thin wood. He female croaked again, eyes blinking very slowly. And then, she began ruffling her feathers up. Chest out, head bowed slightly, feathers puckered into a fluffy ball of plumage, as she moved closer. Inch by inch. There was a deep rustling cooing sound vibrating inside her chest.  
_  
Is she 'flirting' with me,_ Robbie questioned in disbelief. The ball of wavering estrogen across from him had now inched so far into his personal space that her feathers were touching his. _Oh lord in heaven..._  
Robbie barely noticed he stopped feeling the branch beneath his feet as he watched the sky moving further away before his eyes, and so did the female raven, who gave a started croak and flapped off again. He did at least not notice he was falling until he was caught by two soft hands.  
  
“Upsadaisy!” a voice gasped. It was not Sportacus, that at least Robbie was able to figure. Robbie blinked, looking around; He was lying on his back, in the Pink Girls arms.  
“Good thing I caught you! You fell out of the branch like a stone. Are you okay?”  
Robbie made a small, strangled sound. “Sportacus. I think Mister Raven is sick.”  
Sportacus! Yes! Robbie slowly blinked himself back into consciousness. He needed to talk to him. Right now.  
  
Why him? No idea. But nevertheless, he squirmed out of the girls arms. But she was holding him down, with quite an amount of power in those toothpick arms.  
“Huh? Sick?” Sportacus looked up from his handstand training with Trixie and Pixel.  
“Yeah he just dropped out of the tree and – stop moving around, Mister Raven! Oh!” Stephanie was no longer able to hold him down, and she watched helplessly as the raven fluttered into the air and past their heads – snatching Sportacus' cap again. And this time, he was not dropping it a few feet away from him.  
  
“Hey!” Sportacus let go of Trixie's ankles. She slowly lost balance and slumped down like a chopped down tree with a surprised 'oomph' sound. Sportacus was chasing after the raven and his cap. Once Robbie was sure the children wouldn't see them anymore, Robbie landed behind the wall of the museum, and morphed himself back into his human form. He was panting. His body was shivering. Not from the cold on his naked skin, though it might be a factor.  
  
“Robbie?” Sportacus had caught up with him. He stood in front of the museum, looking around in confusion as to where he had left. A dainty hand snatched his vest, and pulled him behind the wall.  
  
“Robbie, what is--”  
“Shh! Quiet. She can hear us!” Robbie pressed his hand to Sportacus' face.  
“ _Ffhe_?” Sportacus mumbled behind the hand pressed against his mouth, and gently, but firmly, pulled Robbie's wrist aside. “Who are you talking about?”  
  
“This...this tramp of a bird that creeped up on me just now. She...she ruffled her feathers at me and – and she cooed at me, Sportacus. _Cooed!_ She went from first base to at least _sixth base_ in a second!”  
“I'm sorry, I don't quite understand.” Sportacus blinked. “What's so bad about cooing? What's first base?”  
  
“Ugh, you really don't get it, huh?” Robbie rubbed his temple. “Alright. So. Are you aware of birds courting rituals?” Robbie asked.  
“Uh, no. Not really.” Sportacus arched a brow. Well, why would he, Robbie reminded himself. He probably didn't even know what sex was to begin with. The guy had the mind of a five year old.  
“Alright well, when a bird and another bird really like each other, they court. Try to impress the other. Eventually they...mate.” Robbie spoke the word as if that was something extremely lewd to talk about. That finally seemed to click in Sportacus brain as well.  
  
“Oh! Ohh, I get it now!” Sportacus face changed so quickly into a broad grin, Robbie actually had to gulp. “Robbie, you cavalier. Looks like you've got someone with a crush on you.”  
  
“That is _NOT_ funny, Sportaloon!” Robbie rode his hands up his hair. “Do you even know what enamored birds do? They mate for _life!_ That's right, they bind you to themselves with their sharp scary talons and force you to stick around them until you _die_. And then they start building nests and have eggs and then they send you to go hunting and possibly give up your life while protecting that stupid pile of sticks.”  
Robbie's hands closed around Sportacus' vest. “ I can't do this, Sportacus! I'm not ready for a wife and eggs! I can't pluck out my feathers to build nests! I'm not ready to throw up my beloved cake and shove it down my children's throats! I can't bind myself for life, I'm too _handsome_ for this! What should I _do_?!”  
  
“Hey, hey. Easy now.” Sportacus set his gentle hands on top of Robbie's bare shoulders. “Whoever said you'd have to do all of that?”  
“ _Nature_ , Sportaflop! Cruel mother nature!” Robbie clamored. “And this tramp of a bird won't back off until I said yes!”  
“Look, you should not ever be forced to do something you do not want to do. For starters – do you like her?”  
  
“No!” Robbie instantly shook his head, and paused. “Though I guess she did smell good...”  
  
“Well, why don't you ask her out for a date first? The first step into beginning a relationship, platonic or romantic, is to get to know the other one. Maybe she isn't even that bad!”  
  
“...Are you _joking_?!” Robbie hissed. “That's not how birds work! That's how _people_ work! And it doesn't even always work with them, either!”  
“Have you tried it before?”  
“Well, no. I haven't, but --”  
  
“Then how can you be so sure about that?”  
Robbie paused. Well, he did have a point actually. While Robbie did survive a few seasons without coming in contact with any marry-eager lady birds, he never had any interest, nor the knowledge if birds actually dated.  
“You should at least try it! You can't be downbeat without trying it at least first.” Sportacus squeezed Robbie's upper arms. Robbie blinked at him. Was he seriously getting dating tips from that Sportadork?! 

“...Alright! Fine. I will take this...uh...well I don't know her name yet, but I will take her out on a date. And then, I will, very politely, and gentleman-like tell her to get lost and never return to my town.”  


* * *

In all honesty, Robbie had no idea how to get himself ready for a date. He had seen some scenes in the TV of men getting ready to woo their loved ones. But these people were usually unnaturally handsome! Not that Robbie wasn't either, mind you! But these people on the television and in their romcoms usually were literal barrels of charisma on legs, they would blast into a room and their vibes alone would draw girls to them like flies to the light. 

Here, he was talking about a fellow bird. One that might be blessed with intelligence, but not the comprehension of discretion. She was not interested in candle light dinner, flowers, small talk and bonding. She was interested in a strict yes or no.  
But either way, if he wanted to get rid of her, he would have to do something about it.  
  
He could barely leave his house without the other raven waiting at his hatch and fluffing up her feathers and cooing and Robbie would try and shoo her away.  But then she would gracefully flutter over to his shoulder and start smothering his cheek with birdy-kisses and nuzzling, sometimes she was dancing around in what Robbie could only guess was a courting dance. It got worse by the day. Robbie decided, in his desperation, to ask the Pink girl if she knew anything about how to date a female.  
  
He knocked at the Mayors door, his eyes constantly alert in case the lady raven would notice him.  
“Oh, Mister Rotten. What a pleasant surprise--”  
“Yes, yes, hello, lets skip this. I need to talk to the Pink-- Uh... Sophia, or what her name is.”  
“You mean Stephanie? Alright, one moment please.” The mayor quickly moved away from the door. “Stephanie, you have a visitor.”  
“Coming!” She called, and Robbie had wished they would call a little quieter, any noises would attract attention.  
  
“Hey, Robbie. What's u--”  
“Shh!” Robbie hissed. “Not so loud. Follow me.” He slipped behind the next house, and Stephanie frowned.  
  
“Robbie, why are we whispering?”  
  
“I don't want to get her—I mean...I don't want to draw general attention on us.”  
  
“Oh-kay. Well, either way,” Stephanie crouched down, together with Robbie. “What's up?”  
  
“I need your help, Pinkie.”  
“My help?”  
“Yes, look – I need to know how to go on dates.”  
“Err, pardon?”  
  
“Dates! You girls always talk about this stuff – how do I do these?”  
“You are going on a date with someone?” Stephanie inferred with sudden curiosity in her voice, and her eyes glistening with a shimmer of enthusiasm. It nearly looked like she was actually...happy for him?  
“Yes, well, either way, you need to tell me--”  
  
“And who is the lucky one?” She asked.  
“Whe—I-- Ugh it's this clingy, hyperactive bird -brain that sticks around me for the last couple of days, just waiting at my hatch every morning and invade my personal space and constantly clings to my arm and then they just poof themselves up with their strange moves and stunts...Have you even heard of something so scandalous?”  
  
“I did.” Stephanie gasped.  
It made 'click' in her mind the moment Robbie described the person to her. Of course! - Robbie was going on a date with Sportacus! It all added up, the stunts, him holding onto Robbie's arm ( which Sportacus did a lot without noticing), hyperactive, bird-brain, well, that was a little offensive, but Stephanie knew Robbie never meant any of these nasty words he called either of them. A smirk spread on her face.  
  
“Well, can you help me or not?” Robbie inquired.  
“Oh I can definitely help you. Stay here, I'll get you everything!”  
  
During the entire morning, Robbie spend his day in Stephanie's backyard, sipping lemonade, and being lectured by the pink girl about dates. She had provided him a notebook and a pink fluffy pen, while Robbie eagerly wrote down everything she told him.  
  
“Start off with dressing yourself appropriately. We should go with a white shirt, a tie, or maybe a bowtie – I think bowtie suits you better actually. Then you'll buy some chocolate – well, uh, actually, buy some fruits.” She snickered. Oh, Sportacus would definitely like it. “Oh, and some flowers! His favorites are lilies!”  
“Who's favorite?” Robbie frowned.  
“Oh, ehh – nobody's. But they do look pretty, so. Buy some lilies. Blue ones!”  
“Alright then....” Robbie shrugged skeptically.  
  
“When you arrive, tell them you like their hair! And their shoes.”  
“Uh-huh...” Robbie scribbled 'lie to them' on the paper.  
  
“And then you start small talk. Ask them about their day, maybe their hobbies what they'd like to do this evening, if they are hungry, and what they'd like to eat. And then you take them for dinner.”  
  
“Sheesh, this is way too complicated.” Robbie growled. He didn't believe a day of a real raven was very interesting, catching insects, sitting on branches, croaking, and he certainly couldn't imagine for any avian to have specific hobbies.  
“It's not complicated at all!” Stephanie smiled. “Just, you know – follow your instincts!”  
  
Exactly _that_ was hat Robbie tried to avoid the entire time.  
But either way, this was the only option. And with his new gathered information, Robbie found himself standing in front of the mirror, fixing his bowtie for the fifth time, and smoothing down a few strands again and again.  
He had bought everything he Pink girl had ordered him to – a box of chocolate, though he ate all of it beforehand and instead replaced the content with the only, terrible fruit that he had available in Lazytown – Apples.  
  
“Ugh, this is really the first and last time I'm ever gonna give Sportscandy to another breathing and living person as a gift.” he muttered to himself.  
He had bought lilies as well, blue ones, like Stephanie had told him to, tied with a pretty ribbon.  
  
“I can do this.” he said to himself. “Do what the dancing girl told you. Gifts, smalltalk, then tell her to get out of town. Yes. Or was it smalltalk, get out of town and then gifts? Or Out of town first and then I throw the apples at her and – Gah, no. Okay. Phew, breathe!” Robbie fixed his pompadour, once again, stuffed his shirt into his pants, and cleared his throat. “Alright! Come on, Robbie! Here goes nothing!”  
  
And thus, Robbie climbed through his hatch, outside. It barely surprised him as the villain saw the female raven sitting on one of the pipes, eagerly awaiting him.  
“Uhm...hi.” Robbie grinned. The female was puffing up, swaying around and flapping her wings, cooing loudly.  
“Y-Yes, nice to see you too...”  
  
Robbie quickly fetched a card from his pocket, where he had written down all of his notes. “I like your hair and...shoes.” He looked down at the birds feet. “You really look...ravishing. Hehe. Get it? Ravishing? Because...raven, uhm...Ahem.” He pointed towards the billboard. “May we talk for a second?”  
  
Robbie climbed up the ladder and sat down, the raven followed. Both sat there, for a moment, in silence.  
“I bought you flowers and sportscandy.” Robbie smiled and held the items towards her. The raven eyed the box and flowers, tilting her head from side to side – and then began eating the flowers.  
  
“Well, now that you're here, and I'm here...” Robbie began. “I must clarify some things with you.”  
The raven kept chewing on the lillies.  
  
“I know you like me, and, I, well, I like you too I guess, but...I don't think I like you... _that way._ See, I still have a life ahead of me, and...I'm not sure if we are ready for this step yet. At least I'm not.”  
The raven decided that he did not like the lillies very much and now began prying open the chocolate box.  
  
“I'm not ready for...nests and fledglings and all that marriage life-thing,to be fully honest. I am a man of, well, simple things. Simple things as in TV shows, a relaxing nap in my armchair, maybe a slice of lemoncake and hot chocolate, and thinking of some way to get rid of that jumpy, eccentric ...sweet and dreamy and...heh...very handsome... Err I mean, that pesky, terrible Sportaflop!"   
  
He cleared his throat. "See, that is my purpose. I am a villain. And he is the hero. A hero has to have a villain. I cannot give up this title i worked so hard for, only to live as a bird my entire life."

The raven gulped pieces of apple down.  
“See, we don't even have anything left to say to each other. All you do is standing there and awaiting answers from me and – Oh for god's sake, stop this!” Robbie pulled the box away from her. “You're not supposed to destroy it! And those flowers were expensive! You don't appreciate anything I do for you!”  
  
That certainly didn't sit well with the raven, as she suddenly began croaking angrily and flapped above his head, pecking and picking at his face and her talons grabbed and pulled forcefully on his hair.  
“Ow! Ouch! Stop it you hysteric shrew!! _Ow!_ _Help!_ ”  
_  
_ In his defensive fit of flailing arms, he barely noticed as he lost balance, and began staggering on top of the billboard. “Uaagh!” Robbie quickly grabbed hold of one of the lights hanging on top, so he wouldn't fall off, and the bird kept screeching and stabbing her beak into his cheekbones and nose and ears. “Agh, leave me alone! Go away already!” Robbie whined and held onto the lamp, the other shoving the mad bird off of him.  
  
The lamp broke off with a metallic wheeze, and Robbie, taken aback by the sudden lack of resistance, slipped off of the billboard. He made a started sound as he plunged into the darkness, the ground coming closer and closer –  
He landed softly, in a pair of pliable, strong arms.  
  
“Hi Robbie. Are you okay?”  
Robbie blinked. He was alive. Unharmed, as far as he could distinguish. He looked up, first thing he saw was one missing light at the billboard, and the second thing he saw was the lady bird, angrily crowing and screeching, her long feathers flapped and a lot of them fell out as she fluttered off and away. Hopefully off, forever. The third, and final thing Robbie saw, was a nervously twitching mustache on a concerned face. That face belonged to Sportacus.  
  
“I'm...always okay...” Robbie sighed. And grew limp in the superheroes arms.  
  
Sportacus carried Robbie into town, towards the bench, where Robbie usually took his naps on.  
“So...what exactly happened, may I ask?” Sportacus blinked. Robbie was frantically trying to fix his ruffled hair, and avoided any touches near the scratches along his forehead, nose, cheeks and chin.  
“Nature happened, Sportakook.” Robbie growled.  
  
“Oh!” Sportacus' face lit up. “So you asked your bird friend for a meeting?”  
“She's not my friend. She never was. Luckily never will.” He leaned close to him. “I'm telling you, never _ever_ mess with women. Look what happens if you turn them down for once. Ugh!” Robbie smoothed his hair down. “First they ogle at you with big bambi eyes, and before you know it they leave you and take your heart, your gifts and flowers with them, and not without messing your entire face up!”  
Sportacus was not entirely sure what Robbie meant by any he was saying, but nodded nevertheless.  
  
“So...it didn't work well, huh?”  
“Oh, it worked, it worked pretty _fantastic,_ actually.” Robbie pulled his jacket straight. “She left! She's not going to bother me anymore! For once, I actually managed to kick someone out of town, forever, and I didn't even have to use any inventions or disguises.” Robbie grinned broadly, but it faltered. “Though, I think I will miss the attention I got. It was somehow amusing.” He sighed, somehow longingly, and looked to the sky.  
  
“Well, there will be more birds coming to Lazytown. There are plenty fish in the sea. Or, well, plenty birds in the trees!” Sportacus smiled, a little crooked. And Robbie - god help him, he could not avoid it – smiled too. His smile was even more crooked and brittle than Sportacus.  
  
“No. I think I've had enough of dates and courtship for now. Just isn't my cup of tea! I am going to keep my distance from love birds and all that jazz. Love, Sportacow, is a cruel and terrible thing. It only brings heart ache and tears and stress, and sleepless nights – and wrinkles, ugh. Only _fools_ fall in love.”  
Sportacus face changed. Robbie couldn't point out into which expression, and why it made him lost his tracks for a moment, but he did, and then quickly fumbled for another thing to say. “Ahem. Who needs love anyway, am I right?” He nudged Sportacus rib.  
  
“Sure, Robbie.” Sportacus grinned. And an awkward silence set in. An awkward silence that somehow gave Robbie the feeling that...  
  
“Why, now that that is over, I can fully concentrate on getting rid of the _second_ most annoying thing in town, again.”  
“Oh! And what would that be?” Sportacus perked up.  
Robbie opened his mouth with confidence, yet before he could answer, he faltered again.  
_You,_ was the answer Robbie would say. But...for some reason...  
  
“Hi Robbie! Hi Sportacus!”  
  
Stephanie had skidded over to them. She was still out, to make photos of the fireflies that appeared right when the sun had gone down. She even raised her camera now, and made a very spontaneous photo, on which Robbie made a funny face, and Sportacus was blinking.  
“How's the date going?”  
  
“Date?” Sportacus blinked.  
“Oh. Yes, right. Well, I got what I wanted, your tips were very helpful actually, pink girl. They really loved the flowers...actually, they almost ate them...”  
Robbie looked down at the flimsy bouquet of flowers that the female raven had picked apart.  
  
“Robbie, you know you are supposed to _hand_ them to Sportacus, right?” Stephanie frowned, seeing as Robbie was still clinging to them.  
Both of the adults threw her a surprised face.  
  
“You...you bought flowers for me?” Sportacus turned to Robbie.  
“I-I...Uh...”  
“He sure did! Blue lillies, too.” Stephanie said, proudly.  
“Really?” Sportacus eyed them. “Blue lillies are my favorite flowers...”  
  
Robbie gulped. Did the pink girl believe he had tried to date Sportacus?!  
“U-Uhm...” Flabbergasted, Robbie mechanically held them towards Sportacus. The superhero accepted them, like Robbie just had handed him the holy grail.  
“They are..they are really pretty, Robbie.” Sportacus said, and smiled. Actually smiled. The flowers were hanging their heads in a very pathetic bow, but Sportacus didn't care, he was happy.  
“And he also got you chocolate!” Stephanie said, and pointed at the tattered box to Robbie's left.  
“I-It's...sportscandy, actually...” Robbie mumbled.  
  
If Sportacus' face had been happy before, he was not positively beaming. His blue eyes sparkled like two supernovas.  
“You got Sportscandy for me too?” He asked. He opened the box, and saw that half of the content was empty, with holes poked inside, but Sportacus didn't seem to mind that either.  
“Oh Robbie, I told you, that was, like, part of the first things you should do when you meet with your date – handing them the gifts, remember?” Stephanie shook her head, but she, too, smiled.  
  
“You knew about this?” Sportacus asked her.  
“I do! He came to me this morning, asking if I knew how dates work, so I taught him! He has been preparing this the entire day, he has made notes, bought gifts, dressed nicely, as you can see! He has been a very attentive student! Isn't that right, Robbie?”  
Robbie blinked between the pink girl and the superhero in front of him.  
  
A bright red flush had developed on Sportacus' face. And, judging by the heat that had traveled into his face and neck, Robbie was blushing too.  
“Well, either way – I won't disturb you two love birds. See you tomorrow!” And as she passed by, she whispered towards Robbie “Don't forget to ask for his number.”  
  
“W-Would you kindly run along now?” Robbie stammered, and Stephanie giggled softly, as she hoped over towards her uncles house.  
“You've been planning all this for _me_ the whole time?” Sportacus asked, a little shy.  
Robbie bit his lip. He wanted to say no, and explain himself, but … but oh, the way Sportacus looked at him, so expectantly and with such glee...it was nearly painful imagining what his reaction would be if he denied.  
  
“I...did. _Yes_.” Robbie said, and raised his finger. “Yes...Yes, that's _exactly_ what I did. I asked you in order to get that pesky bird off my back! And, as you can see, it worked!”  
He grinned, his face aching from the cuts and scratches, and his hair was still sticking out in various places, and his bowtie was hanging lopsided. But Sportacus did all but give a heart-warming chuckle. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemme smash. Plz...  
> I got u blue.


	4. The raven sitting lonely, spoke one word, his soul outpour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How could he jubilate when he was just sitting in cages, never taking wing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, its un-beta'd and written by a non-native speaker, so sorry if I'm messing up stuff

Spring left, as fast as it had arrived. The first few sunny tickles of summer made their way into town, and the children were as active as ever.  
  
Usually, Robbie disliked summer. More than he disliked the other seasons at least. Summers were warm and sticky on the skin and it sunk into his clothes and lingered there, and those were the only fashionable clothes he had, god forbid he would step out of this here lair and look part of the populace, in their shorts and shirts and caps and tops.  
  
He hated summer, because it happened to be the season in which he slept the least. Due to his lair heating up immensely, even when his metallic walls always stayed cool, and especially since every day, the children would be out and about, playing, and being noisy, pesky, and uncontrollable, at the earliest hours at that. The only occasions they would ever stop moving around frantically were summer storms, and whenever Robbie would disguise and trick them into being lazy and obedient.   
  
But the most prominent reason why Robbie absolutely hated summer was he fact he was molting.  
  
Alot.  
  
His old winter plumage was falling off rapidly, even when he was human. Whenever he strolled along through town, if he ever did, the children were surprised to find large amounts of feathers plastering the way their villain was walking. Usually the children didn't questioned it further, though one time, the Pink girl actually asked Robbie bluntly if he had done any harm to Sportacus raven friend.   
  
“Sportacus? Raven friend?” Robbie furrowed his eyes. He still played the innocent one, not giving the kids any clues to this day that he was that said raven.  
“What, are you and the muppets not enough friends for him? Does he have to turn to the animal kingdom to give him company?”  
  
“The raven came to _him_.” Stephanie said, a little sour. “He was injured and he helped him, and since then he is his pet.”  
  
Pet. He was definitely, most definitely _not_ his pet. A pet belonged to a person, drink out of plastic bowls and get rebuked when it peed on the carpet. And if Sportacus even so dared thinking he could put a collar and leash on him...  
  
“Well, what do I care what that Sportadingus does in his freetime, and what kind of shabby animals run up to him? I haven't done anything to that bird. Though...” And Robbie rubbed his chin with feigned interest and muttered: “I could kidnap him and blackmail Sportacus out of town--”

“And why are there feathers where ever you go?” Stephanie picked up a long black feather that definitely belonged somewhere on his wing. Robbie cringed a little as he saw just how much feathers he was loosing while he wasn't noticing it, then he cleared his throat, straightened his vest and glared back at the girl.   
  
“Yeah, that's...that belongs to me.” Robbie said, and stretched his awaiting hand out.  
  
“Why are you carrying black raven feathers around?”  
“I'm...uhm...” Robbie looked around. “It's for...for a disguise. Yes.”   
“Okay, and which one?”  
“It's a secret, _Stephanosy_!” — And Robbie snatched the feather out of her grip and quickly scooted away before she would keep pestering him with questions and possibly call Sportacus to them.  
  
Talking about the superhero – it was very obvious that Sportacus was twice as giddy and active as he usually was, now that summer had arrived. Winter had toned the elf down, at least a few notches. But Robbie was very sure by now that Sportacus must have a close relation to any vegetation around Lazytown, being dried out during the colder seasons and blooming at their fullest potential as soon as the sun was shining brighter.  
  
For some reason, Robbie's instincts to fly have grown bolder and harder to suppress and ignore, ever since the last bits of snow had melted and the flowers bloomed. Summer was not the time where he was very active, he got sweaty very quickly, and sunshine on black feathers was just as equal as walking in a parka during the hottest day of the season. Not to mention he was highly allergic to pollen. He was sneezing like crazy each time he walked through the park.   
  
He couldn't explain why he constantly itched to stretch his wings and fly. He believed ever since his injury was healed, he hadn't had the opportunity for some free roaming.  
He tried flying around his lair a few times a day, which left him immensely unsatisfied. He slept less, constantly thinking about flying. He ate less, heck, he lost his very appetite for cake and candies, and that was immensely unusual coming from the same man who would ignore a stomach bug in favor of eating sugar. Something happened to him, something the number one villain would never admit to himself – he was aching for movement. _Activity.  
_  
“I really must be sick.” He said once he realized, and held a hand to his forehead. It was cold.  
“ _Ugh!_ No. I can't start becoming like Sportacus! I don't _want_ to be active! That has got to be that blasted elf's magic! He must have glamoured me into becoming all giddy and spastic and sick of my laziness!”  
He growled, and planted himself into his chair. A billow of molted feathers burst into the air around him.

“No. I will not give in to this. I will sit here, and I will _like_ it.” he pressed a button on his remote, and the TV set lowered itself to his eyelevel. “There. That's how I like it.” he said and wiggled himself into a comfortable position into his armchair, and switched the TV set on.   
  
It was a bird documentary. Robbie wanted to switch the channel, yet for some reason, he was glued to the program. He watched flocks of blackbirds and finches flying in the blue sky, watched eagles gracefully picking up rabbits from the floor with their huge talons, powerful swings of long wings.   
  
He switched channels. It was a celebrity show, with one of the people in fancy suits and slick haircuts holding a parrot on his shoulder. The parrot seemed very moody, he flipped his wings and all his feathers were ruffled.   
Robbie found the excuse to watch it only for the fact that the parrot decided to poop on the mans shoulder and then fly off behind the studio, causing a little chaos behind the scenes.  
But ultimately, Robbie switched again, and...  
The news.  
  
“Well, at least there won't be any birds in this I bet.” he sighed and relaxed.  
 _“And now to positive news, a flock of wild geese has been sighted in the norther regions, after almost ten years going missing —”_  
“Enough!” Robbie switched the TV set off completely.   
  
“This isn't working! I am the _master_ of being lazy! I am the laziest person in Lazytown! How, and why, did I forget how be _lazy?!_ ” He believed staying human over a week, without shifting would eventually simmer down his urge; causing his plumage to fall off even faster. “I will be bald by the end of summer!” he lamented.   
  
At one day, when flying around his lair not only left him unhappy, but positively frustrated him, there was a knock at the hatch.   
  
“Hey Robbie, it's me!” Sportacus called. Robbie fetched his periscope with a snarl and directed it to stare back at the superhero. He was sitting on top of a blue bicycle, a bright grin on his face, as usual.  
“What do you want, Sportadunce?”  
“I was going to take a small trip through the forest, and I happened to pass here. I was wondering, if you'd like to come along?”  
  
The superhero was already supposing that Robbie's answer would be no – but he was positively surprised as Robbie, in fact, crawled out of the chute and positively pushed for them to get going.  
So, Sportacus was driving on his bike through the forest – and Robbie, for the first time in summer, flew freely.   
  
He roamed around the trees, and hovered above the elf's head, he flew far up in the sky and tumbled down in breakneck pace, leaving Sportacus stunned and shocked, yet before the raven would hit the ground, he spread his wings and flew again, only inches above the floor. Sportacus never realized that Robbie, despise being a little rusty in his human form, was actually quite agile for a bird.   
  
Sportacus was surprised to find himself trying to catch up with Robbie, instead the other way around.   
  
“Hey, Robbie, how about we race?” he asked. The raven croaked loudly, and Sportacus took it as a yes.  
“The first one to reach the end of the forest wins!” Sportacus said and pushed into the pedals. Robbie followed, closing in, and zooming near the already very fast superhero, he had forgotten about his laziness and general avoidance of races, games, or whatever Sportacus liked.  
  
Drunk from instincts being sated, he gave a powerful push of his wings, and zoomed past Sportacus almost with ease. Even the superhero himself was amazed how fast his friend could be, if he only wanted too. Robbie dodged tree trunks and branches, and other passing birds, even as the forest ended, Robbie flew, far into the sky, let the warm summer sun shine onto his plumage and let the wind course through his feathers.   
Sportacus was panting a little once he reached the end of the woods as well, pushing his bike along. But he wasn't mad, or irritated at his loss, no. He laughed, proudly, up into the sky.  
  
“You really beat me at my favorite sport, Robbie.” the elf grinned proudly. The raven lowered himself slowly onto Sportacus' bike, an grabbed the coat Robbie had taken along. He threw the garment into the air with his powerful beak, and slipped inside mid air, his form collapsing in a wall of feathers, and his tall human form emerged inside the dark magenta coat.   
Robbie brushed his hair back into form, and, Sportacus felt a strange tingle running up his spine once he noticed, the man was out of breath as well, a healthy shade of pink in his face, and smiling smugly.  
  
“Well, Sportadud! Who would have thought the greatest superhero of Lazytown could be beaten by a birdbrain?” Robbie put his fists into his side. “Has this now severely destroyed your ego?”  
“Not at all.” Sportacus shook his head. “I'm glad you won!”  
  
“—Glad?” Robbie repeated. “But you _lost_.”  
  
“It doesn't matter if I won or lost, Robbie. Besides...” And Sportacus approached with his hand touching Robbie's arm. “I was glad to witness your truest potential. You really _are_ fast as a bird.”  
Robbie's eyes moved between the superhero's face and the hand that held onto his biceps. Heat seeped from his neck into his face.  
  
“Why, yes, I am.” Robbie said and held his chin high. “As long as my wing isn't fractured and my leg isn't cut open like a fish, I do have potential.”  
Robbie felt a little awkward to be admired for his sportiness, being the laziest man alive, and coming from a sports-elf.   
  
Almost on reflex, Robbie looked down at his formerly injured arm. It had stopped hurting. Whatever Sportacus had done to let the bruises heal so fast, it had worked. Robbie had estimated a month before he would be able to fully fly again,yet Sportacus had fixed him up in less than two weeks. Maybe it was simply a sort of spell that only Sports-elfs were able to cast, a sort of healing spell, or curing glamours.   
  
Or maybe, Sportacus simply put all of his effort into making sure Robbie was feeling alright again.  
He didn't know if he ever actually thanked him for saving his life that evening. He probably didn't. Should he? How would he though? He believed that, sort of 'date' the Pink Girl had spontaneously set up for them was enough to show his gratitude, however considering how awkward and stiff and inexperienced either were, it was nowhere near a good sign of gratitude.   
  
“...ee?” Sportacus suddenly asked and Robbie flinched. “Wh-What?”  
“I asked if I may see your arm?” Sportacus repeated. Robbie blinked in confusion before he realized what the elf just asked.  
“Wh—Uh...fine.” Robbie brushed his sleeve up his arm.  
  
Sportacus took an almost to gentle touch on Robbie's forearm, his thumb brushing ever so slightly over the remaining blue and purple coloration around closed skin.   
“Looks pretty ugly, doesn't it?” Robbie muttered.  
“Not at all.” Sportacus smiled, carefully placing the long sleeve back over his arm again. “Don't worry, these bruises will go away eventually. You have healed pretty well.”  
 _  
Thanks to you,_ Robbie thought. “Well, naturally, that is what the human body was build to do.”  
Sportacus frowned a little at how hard Robbie spoke out the word 'human'. He noticed the man was rubbing a little thoughtfully over his arm.   
“Are you still in pain?” The superhero asked.  
  
God, if he would only stop constantly asking him how he felt, if he was fine, or hurt or in pain –  
  
“I'm not. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to beat you before, right?”  
“I guess you're right about that. But --”  
“No buts, Sportacow! I am perfectly healthy; stop mothering me for a single minute, would you?”  -  “I'm sorry, Robbie.” Sportacus chuckled sheepishly.   
  
“And stop saying sorry all the time.”  
“S-Sorry.” Sportacus stammered. “I'm just worrying.”  
  
“Sportakook, If I would spend as much time worrying about myself as you do, it would drive me completely nuts, eventually! There is _no_ reason to worry about me all the time. Look, I still have all my limbs, I can walk, speak, and fly, and my head is still on my shoulders, isn't it?” Robbie pushed his fists into his sides to appear even taller than he already was.  
  
“In fact, I can prove you how well I am! There, grab those binoculars of yours.”  
“What are you planning to do?” Sportacus asked, but did as Robbie asked, fetching the spyglass from his backpack.  
“Just keep those glasses at your eyes and watch.” Robbie hissed, grabbed his coat and threw it aside, and Sportacus had to adjust his glasses a little, so the first thing he saw when he looked through them wouldn't be Robbie's backside up close.   
  
Robbie's form collapsed in mist and a black feathered blotch emerged, rising into the air with powerful swings of his wings. The raven flapped above Sportacus for a moment in circles, and crowed loudly, before dashing back into the woods, and vanishing between the trees. Sportacus quickly lifted his binoculars and fixed them on the raven.

The bird was flying gracefully like a shadow along the trees, silent as the wind. The sports-elf wondered what Robbie was planning to do. The villain was hovering over the path they had come from, head looking right and left, tilting and adjusting, and observing. Indeed, he was scanning the ground with his eyes, that's what Sportacus figured.   
  
Robbie's ears were perked and alert. He came off the trail and descended further into the thick, narrowed paths between the trees, searching along the ground. It was hard to spot them, especially on coniferous grounds. But he could smell them. The wind that bristled through his feathers carried their scent towards him.   
  
Sportacus kept observing attentively, even after a few minutes of Robbie simply hovering above the floor, without doing anything else.   
And then – There! Robbie had altered his tracks, he had wheeled around in the air so suddenly, and increased his speed. He was zooming past the trees, lower, and lower, coming towards the floor in alarmingly fast gradation. For a moment, Sportacus was sure Robbie had lost his balance and was going to plummet to the floor, possibly breaking his neck.   
  
But no, his eyes were fixed on the ground, he was sharp-eyed and watched the floor with precise attention – he raised his legs from beneath his body, his talons spread, opened up like hands. It felt like a moment in which time was slowed down to a minimum. Sportacus watched in awe as Robbie, wings spread far over his head, claws open, approached the floor even further, and there, right in his field of view...Sportacus' breath hitched in his throat. He forgot to breathe.  
  
He saw something small, another creature, running frantically along the floor. A mouse perhaps, or a weasel. The small rodent was running for his life, Sportacus realized – but to no avail. Robbie's claws approached so swiftly, closed around that little body, small sticks and leaves tumbled in all directions as Robbie crashed into the bank of moss and fir needles.  
  
Sportacus was sure he heard the pained cry of whatever animal that was now trapped firmly in Robbie's talons. And then, Sportacus drew his first breath after what felt like hours, and everything, time and space, zoomed back into place, Robbie's wings pushed him off the ground, and back into the air, a lump of fur in his claws.  
  
Sportacus, even though just witnessing a rather realistic display of the cruelty of nature, couldn't help but smile in astonishment. Robbie had his first hunt after months, and he had succeeded. He didn't even mind the rather gruesome method Robbie used to break the rodents neck and swallowed it whole,, head first, he was amazed and astounded, how graceful Robbie had moved, how precise he struck down and lifted himself up again with the sheer power of his wings, all while grabbing another living animal off the floor with his feet. Robbie emerged from the woods, his loud croak echoing over the hills.  
  
He noticed Sportacus was waving beneath him. “Good job, Robbie! Good job! That was amazing! You caught it with your bare hands...well, your bare feet!” he heard him calling.  
  
Robbie felt tingles all over his body, as the praise reached him. Adrenaline shot into his mind, a lot of things all of the sudden; giddiness, trembles up and down his body, wantonness, anxiety, fear, but not as much as the desire to burst right here and there with ecstasy.  
  
He dropped down, wings pulled close to his body. Sportacus expression changed from giddy over into alertness, as his eyes followed the feathery ball that zipped down into his direction. Robbie spread his wings again, just before he would come too close to the floor, flapped into Sportacus' frame —  
  
“Oomph!” Sportacus had caught Robbie like he would have caught a basketball, the impact sending the superhero to the ground. He landed softly in the grass. And then he laughed. He laughed loud and soft and his voice was like water, it washed away worries and anger and sorrow. Sportacus dimmed his laughter to a small giggle. There was a ticklish sensation at his palms as feathers ruffled and fluttered, loads of them pooling over his chest and his stomach. A sudden weight formed on top of his chest.   
  
His hands touched something soft, even softer than these black feathers. He opened his eyes.  
  
Two pools of icy gray stared back at him. Sportacus blinked a few times before noticing he hadn't had the raven on his chest anymore, but a body. It pressed softly into his own, hands on each side of his shoulder. Sportacus realized that soft sensation at his palms was tender, warm skin.   
  
A soft wind blew over the hills. Robbie shivered slightly. His frame was tall and slender and so fragile, even fragiler than he was as a bird, if that was even possible. Sportacus' hands tensed a little over that goosebumps-prickling skin with an instinct to _protect.  
_  
Before Sportacus could move, open his mouth, or speak out his concern that Robbie might catch a cold if he didn't grab his coat, he was pressed down.  
Softness brushed against his lips. Sportacus blinked, he looked up and towards Robbie's now closed eyes. His mind recorded this intimate lip-pressing for about four seconds, before Robbie's eyes sprung open, and he scrambled away from him. He held him there, inches from his face, looking back up at him wide-eyed and perplexed, as though he literally had no idea what had just happened. 

“I..I'm...” Robbie stammered. Sportacus looked up at the man in just as much confusion as Robbie looked back down at him. “I-I'm... I'm s— I'm sorry...I didn't...”  
  
Sportacus frowned. Did Robbie just apologize? He had, in all honesty never heard the villain, ever, apologize to him. But he had never seen the man on top ever so scatterbrained before, either.  
“I don't know what came over me...” Robbie admitted. He was moving off of him, slowly. Sportacus didn't want that. He didn't want Robbie to leave. If he left now, he would...he would...  
  
Before Robbie would move off of him, two hands touched each side of his head. Sportacus leaned towards Robbie's face, and captured his lips with his own. Evidently, Sportacus had never kissed anyone before. Or not often enough. The kiss was awkward and strange and inexperienced.  
  
Seconds stretched into what felt like hours, and Sportacus waited for the villain to kiss him back, guilty shame pooling in his gut – until just as he moved to pull away, it came.  Robbie opened his lips and pressed deep into Sportacus' kiss. He tasted apples. And honey. And he wanted to taste more, feel more. His tongue probed and brushed against Sportacus' lower lip, and the elf barely hesitated to open up and sample him in return.  
  
Sportacus' hands slipped from Robbie's jawline to his hair, fingers threading through those soft strands, and oh, blasted heaven, he ruined his thoroughly gelled hair. Somehow though, he didn't mind, judging by the way his hand ruffled through his jet black hair and lightly scratched at his scalp and even tugged a little at a handful of tufts, it was evident that Sportacus had been longing to do this for a long time.  
A long time...  
  
Robbie hummed and gasped softly against those tender lips at the warm palm that touched the side of his neck, and pressed into his shoulder, and ran up and down his bare spine. His touch was so gentle, so soft, so sweet and...and _perfect.  
_ God, he's perfect.  
  
By the time Robbie realized that his lungs were burning, he was so starved for oxygen that his vision has started getting spotty. It took all of his strength to break away from Sportacus' lips and he gasped loudly, sucking in the first lungful air in what felt like an eternity.  
  
His head lolled forwards, Sportacus expected Robbie to sink down for another kiss, but Robbie rested his head next to Sportacus' instead, cheek to cheek, and Robbie panted softly. So did Sportacus. They stayed like this, down in the grass, Robbie's trembling body pressed into Sportacus' own.   
  
The superhero's arms crossed over the expanse of Robbie's back, like he was shielding him from the cruel, cold winds around them. He didn't know how long they stayed like this. Only, that, at some point, Robbie's form pushed against those arms, and Sportacus let go of him. He saw Robbie's face. It did not reflect happiness. Not at all.  
  
“I...I need to...” Robbie mumbled.  
“Huh?” Sportacus blinked and sat up, watching the villain removing himself from him.   
  
“I need to go.” Robbie said then. He placed his hands on top of his upper arms and rubbed at his freezing skin. “Don't follow me.”  
“W-Wait. Robbie, where are you — ?”  
  
But Robbie's form collapsed in a curtain of feathers, and the raven flapped into the air, and away  
“Robbie!” Sportacus called. Nothing. The raven didn't even crow back, nor turn around and return. He fluttered into the skies, above the forest, and vanished behind the tall crowns of the trees.

 


	5. Nothing farther uttered, not a feather when he fluttered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life without Robbie sure is boring.  
> And upsetting.

The first clue that Sportacus had to where Robbie had flown off was, of course, Lazytown. The superhero was positive that there was no other location Robbie could have gone to, besides his home.  
  
Sure, he had told him not to follow him, but Sportacus, even I he was a loyal and obedient elf, could not follow this order. He knew, he had made a mistake. He knew, he had probably pushed some boundaries and upset the villain. And that was not what Sportacus wanted, ever.  
  
No, he couldn't just stay here and _not_ check up on Robbie, not if he wanted to stay friends with him, not if his crystal was alert. It wasn't beeping, flashing or demanding the superhero to run to his aid. But it was vibrating ever so softly, tense and certainly unhappy.  
  
Its gonna be okay, Sportacus told himself, as he drove back into town as fast as possible. He would go back, knock on Robbie's lair and apologize to him, maybe give the villain a while to calm down and think about it, and perhaps, ultimately, they would be friends again.  
  
But Sportacus never got the chance. For Robbie wasn't home.  
  
Sportacus had dropped his bike at the billboard and climbed towards the vent, and knocked at the hatch. He was used to receive no response at first, and Sportacus called down so Robbie could hear him. He apologized loudly, said that he didn't mean to hurt his feelings, and assured him that he shall take his time to accept his apology. And Sportacus had left.  
  
It was also usual that Robbie was not coming back out of his lair for the next couple of days as well, and Sportacus visited him every day asking how he's been doing and if he wanted to speak about it, but was usually greeted with silence, which he shrugged off and assured the villain, he should take his time.  
  
It was, however, _not_ usual that the last time, and after a whole week without Robbie appearing anywhere in town, Sportacus knocked at the hatch and noticed that it wasn't locked. Sportacus jumped down the chute and landed in the usual gloomy and dusty boiler room that was Robbie's house.  
  
Robbie wasn't in his furry armchair. And not at the disguise machine. Not at the bookshelf in the corner and not in any of the many doors and rooms the lair had. He even noticed a half-eaten piece of cake standing abandoned on the small couch table, which was definitely abandoned in a hurry and stood there for a long while, untouched.  
  
A shudder ran up and down the hero's spine, as a terrible idea came to his mind. Had Robbie never returned home after their fight? Had Robbie not been in Lazytown ever since?  
But if he wasn't here; Where was he?  
  
The tense feeling in his crystal came back to his consciousness so abruptly, it pulled him out of his paralyzed state. Sportacus instantly went back into town.  
“Robbie! Robbie, where are you?!” He called, and looked around with worry in his searching eyes. He quickly jumped over to the bench in the center of the town. No Robbie. He jumped up into the trees and looked for a trace of the black raven who might hid behind the branches. No Robbie. Frantically he zoomed through town in immense velocity, so fast and and with so much power in every step that flowers were ripped from the ground as Sportacus sprinted past and whenever he stopped, the gravy road cracked open and was left partly fragmented.  
  
“ _Robbie!!_ ” He called. His voice resounded loudly over the treetops and the roofs of the houses, and they even echoed across the town to the other end of the sportsfield, where Stephanie and Trixie were skipping ropes. The two instantly stopped and flinched at the sudden loud sound that echoed across the landscape, and Trixie even tangled her ankle in the rope and landed face-fist on the floor.  
  
“What the heck was _that?_ ” she yelled as she rubbed her sore nose.  
“That sounded like Sportacus!” Stephanie gasped. “Come on, get up!”  
  
The two of them quickly sprinted down the road, through the park, past the museum and the townhall and the library. They came to an abrupt standstill as a blue flash zoomed past them and only missed them by a few inches.  
“Sportacus!”  
  
The blue blur stopped and a large plume of dust swirled in the air. Sportacus' face appeared, and it made Stephanie's insides squirm in worry. “Sportacus, what's wrong? What's with all the noise?”  
“Robbie is gone.” The superhero panted.  
  
“Gone?” Stephanie echoed in disbelief. “What do you mean with gone?”  
  
“He's not here. Not in town or in his house. Not in the trees either, or the forest --” He stopped talking. He knew the situation was dire, but he knew Robbie's abilities to shapeshift were still a secret only the two of them knew about, and he would not slip that piquant detail that actually made finding Robbie only harder.  
  
“So what?” Trixie shrugged. “The guy disappears ever so often. Ain't nothing new.”  
  
“No, no, it's not like that this time.” Sportacus' shoulders slumped, everything about him seemed to slump into a very sad bow. “It's my fault this time. I...I think I drove him out of town.”  
  
“What?” Stephanie and Trixie said at the same time.  
“But...isn't that what Robbie was trying to do to _you_ all the time?” Trixie asked with an arched brow.  
“No, he wouldn't--” Sportacus shook his head. “I mean--- It doesn't matter right now, he is gone, for over a week and a half now. He's not in his lair, and not around the sportsfield, not at the cake store. Nowhere.”  
  
“Maybe he will return eventually?” Stephanie asked. She knew Sportacus was a little eccentric sometimes, but his worry was still understandable. “I mean, as Trixie said, he does vanish sometimes. Just like that, for, well, longer times. But run out of town - He can't just leave like this, without a reason. Right?”  
  
Sportacus stared at the floor. Maybe she was right, maybe Robbie would eventually come back. But where was he to begin with? When would he come back?  
Would he ever come back at all...?  
  
Guilt bubbled hot and painfully inside his chest. He shouldn't have, he shouldn't have and let Robbie go, give him space, leave him alone because that had been what he had wanted. And he just had grabbed him and destroyed their friendship. He had driven Robbie out of town. Sportacus drove his hands to his head, beneath his cap and into his hair, sighing. “I hope you're right, Stephanie...”  
  
Stephanie stepped towards the superhero, and placed a gentle hand on his elbow. “He will come back. This is still his home, after all.”  
Sportacus nodded, looking up and off into the far distance of the dark, feral woods behind Lazytown's borders.  
  
But Robbie did not return.  
  
The early summer times transitioned into warmer, longer days of late summer, and fall arrived faster than any of Lazytown's citizen wished for. The days grew colder again, and snow followed quickly. Winter was gloomier than usually, snow fell heavier than usually, covered the streets and parks and benches and trees in thick icy layers.

Many days, the children were stuck in their houses, for the snowfall was so strong it pressed heavily against the doors, and even so trying to open it would result in a large pile of snow falling over the doorstep into the carpeted livingrooms.  
  
Robbie, as far as Sportacus had checked on, had not returned. His lair was still the same. The half-eaten lemoncake on Robbie's couch table had started to develop a greenish shade, and flies were the only beings graciously eating from it.  
Sportacus, after his probably tenth visit this week alone, decided to throw it away.  
  
And in fact, started cleaning up the lair, dusted off the shelves and collected spare parts to put them neatly into boxes, he had tripped over a bear trap at least thrice and one time he nearly had his ankle stuck in it. He cleaned the house, every corner, every bit of dust or dirt was scrubbed off.  
  
Just in case. When Robbie returned.  
  
_If_ he returned.  
  
Sportacus' crystal hadn't stopped gently vibrating against his chest ever since then. He was tense. And did not give him rest. It did blink and bleep when someone was in trouble, but it never stopped being active, never stopped transmitting the feeling that something was not right.  
  
Sportacus had looked all over for Robbie. He had looked through the forest, climbed every tree to check, jumped into every shrub and every pit and even asked people of the other towns around them, Pridetown and Envytown, if they have either seen a tall lanky black haired man, or a large Raven with a pompadour.  
  
The people of Envytown were very hostile, acted as if the very question where his friend was were an insult to them, for people apparently did not like to share information. Or share anything at all. It eerily reminded him of a certain boy from his own home.  
  
The people of Pridetown did not even spare him a single glance. The sight of a man all dressed in blue was something so massively out of place for the people that they decided he had to be some sort of freak and even talking to him would ruin their very reputation.  
Rude – but Sportacus assumed, judging by the climate of the town itself, that no animal or human outside these borders would bother trying to stay here for longer than necessary.  
  
Nobody had seen him. Neither in his raven form, nor in his human form.  
  
The effects of the lack of a villain figure was not doing any good to Lazytown. The children were bored and sad, and heartbroken, and the weather ever since he was gone didn't seem to be in their favor either. They barely had the opportunity to be outside; And whenever they were outside, they would soon start lamenting the lack of disguised Robbie's in the nearby, or the missing of a trap, the villain's striped pants didn't peek between the tree trunks anymore, and every day suddenly became the same old thing. Getting up, sports, going to bed.  
  
Trixie decided to try and act as the role of the villain, putting on disguises and acting as a different person. The kids were playing monopoly when Trixie, stomping straddle-legged into the room, her hands into fists.  
“Howdy, yer doggone yankees.” She growled in her deepest voice. “Ah'm snotty-nose Jones! And it's high noon!”  
  
“We know it's you, Trixie.” Stingy rolled his eyes.  
“Ah, _dagnabbit dammit!_ ” She coughed and her smoky voice changed back. “What gave it away?”  
“Your mustache is crooked.”  
“And your bangs are showing under the cowboy hat.”  
“And those are the boots I got you for your birthday last year.”  
The five kids sighed.  
  
“Man, Robbie was much better at that stuff.” Pixel muttered.  
“Yeah. His disguises were always so neatly done, I never recognized him before it dropped.”  
“Guys?” Ziggy sniffed and nibbled on his lollipop. The kids looked at their youngest friend. “I...I know he is supposed to be the bad guy, but - I really miss Robbie...”  
“We miss Robbie too.” The others admitted.  
  
“Do you think he will come back?”  
Trixie, Stingy and Pixel bit their lips and threw each other hesitant glances.  
  
“Of course he will come back!” Stephanie blurted, arms akimbo and her eyebrows furrowed. “He has always returned home, no matter how long it's been. He would have no reason to just leave, right?”  
“Well, he isn't actually fond of Sportacus, you know.” Stingy said, and absentmindedly kicked Pixel's meeple off the board. “And ever since he arrived, Robbie had tried a lot to get him out of town. Maybe he was fed up with failing all the time, and decided to give up.”  
  
“That still wouldn't be a reason to just leave.” Stephanie crossed her arms. “This is still his home after all. I wouldn't leave home just like that either, or would you?”  
She turned back to Ziggy and crouched to be on his height. “No worries, Ziggy. I'm positive, he will be back by christmas! For sure!"  
  
Christmas was celebrated at Stephanies house, and everyone was there. Sportacus, Stingy, Pixel, Ziggy, Trixie, Mayor Meanswell and Miss Busybody.  
Everyone. But Robbie.  
  
She had wrote an invitation and send it to him; perhaps he was back and they simply hadn't noticed yet. He didn't come. Not during dinner. Not while they shared christmas presents. Not while they played their annual Christmas-games.  
  
'Who's under the Mistletoe' was usually Stephanie's favorite game, for each time Robbie actually did celebrate it with them, he and Sportacus always ended up being beneath the mistletoe and awkward cheek-kisses were shared. But this year, Sportacus was being smooched by Miss Busybody, who may or may not have been a little drunk on advocaat and kissed Sportacus at least five times. His entire face was covered in her bright red lipstick.  
  
And while Mayor Meanswell sat down on his armchair and started reading Christmas stories to the children ( and Miss Busybody a well, though he had fallen asleep on the carpet with half of her glass spilling on the floor, and her head was cushioned by one of the recliner pillows), Stephanie decided not to join this time. She had noticed Sportacus was looking a little sad during the fest.  
  
And then a thought crossed her mind. A thought that might explain why Sportacus may looked so lost.  
She had to ask him.  
  
“Sportacus?” She asked the superhero, who stood at the window, with a cup of ginger tea in his hands, watching as snow fell heavily around the houses. He flinched, actually flinched, as he heard his name. He must have been absentminded.  
“Have you seen Mister Raven around recently? I haven't seen him in a while.”  
  
There was a short sting in Sportacus' heart. “Oh, he's...uhm...No, I haven't seen him around, either.”  
“He's gone too?”  
“Well, I think he is, yes.”  
  
Stephanie's hand went to clasp over her mouth. “Oh no. That's so sad, I'm sorry to hear that, Sportacus.” She rubbed at his arm. “ Maybe...Maybe he knew winter was coming, and he migrated to the south? I know birds go to warmer countries during winter.”  
“Yes, some birds do that.” Sportacus nodded. Could it be true? Maybe Robbie really joined the flocks of birds who migrated to Africa during the winter times, and he would return, tanned, relaxed, and happy to be back home. Maybe...  
“I hope he will come back to you when it's spring.”  
  
“Well, Stephanie - he's a wild animal. His home is the forest and the mountains. He should not be around people as much as he had been anyway.”  
“But he has always been so drawn to you.” She said. “Like a friend.”  
Like a friend. Yes. She was right about that.

* * *

  
“Are we there yet? I think I can't feel my feet anymore.”  
“Soon, Stingy, it's not that far anymore.”  
  
Sportacus, Stephanie, Ziggy, Pixel and Trixie were joyfully walking the path up the knoll. After the long, somber winter, a very bright, sunny and warm beginning of spring greeted them. The snow was not yet completely melted and the sun glistened on the last bits of ice on the grass like diamonds. The birds sang and the bugs buzzed, bees and ladybugs swirling around the first few flowers that craned their heads towards the light.  
  
The sky was blue, the wind was fresh and smelled of the new season, and of course, that was the perfect opportunity for the group to take a walk around the forest.  The nature trail followed along the woods and further outside to large green and open meadows stretching over hills and gorges, all the way up to the nearly tree-less mountains.  
  
Sometimes, the white and black-spotted backside of a cow greeted them from behind the high grass, and puffins flew over their heads towards the close by sea. Sportacus knew they were puffins, the colorful beak was a pretty obvious trait of these birds. No pompadour though...  
  
They walked for a few hours now, and decided to take a rest, leaning against the logs of a fenced-in area of the meadows, shared food and drinks and enjoyed the sun on their skin.  
  
“Ah, I'm so happy to see the sun again.” Ziggy sighed.  
“Yeah. This winter has been really dark and cold and _ugh._ ” Trixie said. The other kids agreed that 'ugh' was a very good way to describe the last few months they had spend in nearly complete darkness and snow, stuck inside playing video games, and only going outside for about two hours for snow angles and snowmen, snowball-battles and sledding, before the sun was setting again.  
  
Stephanie figured that it had been hard for them, alright, but for Sportacus, it must have been torture. He was tuck inside his airship or in Pixel's and Stephanie's house, with limited space and  
Strangely however, Sportacus seemed to have mellowed down considerably. She wasn't sure if the last few months of lacking sunlight had robbed Sportacus of his usual extremely enthusiasm that was sometimes hard to keep up with, for the superhero had not complained a lot when he was forced to stay inside his airship and instead train there, or stick around the children in their small houses and watch the snow fall outside the window.  
  
Or perhaps it was the fact that he was now a superhero, lacking a villain.  
  
Robbie had not returned ever since. He had missed Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve and St.Patrick's day, and all the other very important days where Robbie missed a chance to stay inside his lair again and avoid attending them. They did miss him, dearly. And though they thought about trying to find a good replacement, such as Bobbie, Tobbie and Flobbie, whose ability to fall asleep at pretty much any time and any place in any position were immensely remarkable, they just weren't _him._  
No other villain was as lazy, nefarious, incredibly handsome and despicably soft inside as Robbie Rotten was.  
  
“Hey, Sportacus, would you like some raspberries?” Stephanie asked, and held a box of raspberries towards the superhero. He wasn't looking at her  
“Sportacus?”  
“What? Oh!” Sportacus blinked, and his usual bright smile appeared on his face again. “Thanks, Stephanie.” And he picked up a few, throwing them in the air and catching them with his mouth.  
“Sportacus, come on, don't play with your food.” Stephanie frowned at him and Sportacus chuckled a little sheepishly. They stayed silent for a while and watched as Ziggy, Trixie, Pinkel, and Stingy jogged up the hill before rolling down the grass.  
  
“Sportacus?” Stephanie asked again. Sportacus was watching the sky.  
“Hm?” He asked.  
“Are you okay? You seem very thoughtful.”  
“Oh. Yes. I'm sorry, Stephanie, it's...” he sighed, and looked off into the distance, behind the wooden fence and over the landscape . “It's good to have sunshine back in Lazytown.”  
“It really is.”she agreed. 

“Sportacus, Stephanie! Come on, we found the pond!”  
The two were called by Pixel who already had his fishing rod in his hand and moved back over the hill and vanished behind a few shrubs. The two followed with their supplies and bags up the hill to rest at the shore of the large pond and hold the rods into the water.  
  
“I think I got a bite!” Ziggy said and wiggled his rod around in excitement.  
“Ziggy, stop it, you're tangled in _my_ rod.” Stingy raised his own and showed a tangled mess of lines and two hooks. “Aw. I thought I got one.” Ziggy mumbled, and proceeded to help Stingy.  
“You wanna try it too, Sportacus?” Stephanie asked as he pulled out her pink fishing rod from her backpack, and set the rod together.  
  
Sportacus didn't answer.  
“Sportacus?”  
“Huh?”  
  
The superhero's gaze was fixed on the forest around them. Now, he looked back at the girl, a little dreamy. He was certainly not paying attention to them, and that has not been the first time he was doing this. Stephanie frowned.  
  
“Sportacus, is everything alright?”  
“Yes, Excuse me, Stephanie. I'm just...” He looked to the forest. “I'm not very concentrated. Must be the lack of sunshine recently.” He cleared his throat. “I think I will do a quick power-jog through the forest. Would that be okay for you?”  
  
“Oh! Well, of course.” She said and smiled, happy to see her friends enthusiasm for over-the-topness was coming back. “I will take care of everything here. You go! But don't go too far okay?”  
“No worries, I will stay close by, I promise!”  
  
And off, Sportacus went. He flip-flopped and cartwheeled and sprinted, jumped, rolled, and swung himself between the trees and vanished.  
Outside the sun, the air was much cooler. It was also much much darker and the air was heavy and burned in the lungs The snow hadn't melted here as much as outside the forest. Big banks of snow were scattered between the trees and melted ice dropped down the branches and onto Sportacus' neck or face.  
  
Sports-elves weren't affected greatly by the temperatures, especially used to cold weathers, so, he barely flinched as cold water touched his skin. After a while of flipping around, Sportacus mellowed down to a casual walk, never too far that in case the children needed saving, he would be there in only a few seconds.  
  
He needed that moment for himself, he figured. It's not that he didn't like being around the children, nor that they tired him. It was the fact his crystal was constantly pushing numbly into his chest, no beeping, not indicating that his help was needed – and yet it was there, constantly, draining his will and stretching the boundaries of his helping instincts. It felt heavy, like a burden, more than a beacon of hope by that point.  
  
He knew what this meant and he felt a sort of shame for it. It were symptoms for an elven depression.  
  
Usually elves of his age weren't affected by these. Usually they only happened to elderly elves – and elves that grieved. Heavily grieved. The heaviest grief an elf could feel – and that was when his mate either left for an other mate – or died.  
  
Sportacus was sure he was not cheated on and no one he had loved had died, and still, it was there and it was prominent.  
  
He blamed the winter and the side effects when a sports-elf was not able to do sports. His airship was large and roomy, but on long term it wasn't a good substitute. Yet even now, when he was outside, able to move, able to let out all that caged energy; he wasn't feeling any better. Still, he was unfocused, easily distracted, and the tensed vibrating of the crystal had long transitioned into buzzing inside his ears and sting in his head.  
  
A noise broke through the buzzing in his ears. A noise, far up above his head.  
Sportacus blinked and looked up towards the crown of the large, leaf-less tree he had stopped beneath. In a hole inside the trunk was a nest. Cries of hungry baby birds rang through the soft creaking and rustling of the branches as the wind swayed them.  
  
And then a different sound.  
A strange sound that might have sounded like water burbling in a creek. It echoed ghostlike through the forest, the only sound that seemed to exist in that very forest. And it felt familiar.  
  
He heard wings flapping, a larger bird had just arrived at the nest. It's wings were long and dark and stretched far before they were folded back, snugly tugged against its body. The legs were thin and long, a few stray feathers clung like tattered pants around the birds knees and transitioned into a soft black plumage, all the way up to the birds head.  
  
The avian creature hopped along the branch. There was something inside that powerful beak, a small lump of fur, obviously a smaller animal that was now going to be the dinner of the crying fledgling inside the nest.  
  
On closer inspection, Sportacus found the bird looked a little...odd compared to the other avians he had seen around the forest. Large, very large. The plumage was a strange shade of black, more like a very dark purple color that glistened whenever the sun hit these feathers.  
And...  
  
Was that a pompadour on the birds head?  
  
“... _Robbie?_ ” Sportacus stammered.  
  
The raven, already leaning far into the nest, now stopped. It rotated its head, until it focused onto the figure standing beneath the tree. Bright, gray eyes, so unusual for any raven's usual black orbs, stared down at the sportself. Several seconds that felt like hours, the two only stared at each other, with neither moving, and only the sounds of wind rustling through the naked branches.  
  
Again, wings flapped. Another raven had approached out of seemingly nowhere. Dark brown plumage, and smaller than the raven that stood next to it and stared at the man at their tree. It was a female raven. She as well carried something small and covered in fur, something that used to be alive.  
The bird turned on the branch, and scrutinized Sportacus as well, from far above in that tree.

 


	6. Let my heart be still and this mystery explore

Sportacus could not remember being in such a bizarre situation as the one he found himself in.  
  
He sat on top of a tree stump, and across from him sat Robbie, wrapped in a large orange coat made out of the fur that his armchair was made of, too.  
  
In Sportacus hand sat a small creature that looked more like a half-digested rat rather than a baby raven, as Robbie had claimed it was. It was skinny, naked, and blind. It had an enormous head and even more enormous mouth. It was in fact so much bigger in comparison to the rest of that small, fragile body, it was too heavy for it to keep it up on its own, awkwardly wobbling and falling out of balance whenever it tried to stretch its neck into the air.  
  
It had tumbled out of the nest, as it had curiously moved to the edge and see who its parents were looking at. The first thing it probably saw was the world spinning around it, before Sportacus had caught her, and ended up with Robbie finally moving down to the ground as well.  
  
He had lost weight. He always had been tall and lanky, but seeing him now, it was concerning. Not only that, but the red cut along his cheekbone glowed in contrast with his pale skin. His hair was wet from the morning rain and smoothed back over his head. All in all, he was still handsome as ever, although looking more feral than he had ever seen him before.  
  
Robbie wasn't looking at him. But Sportacus nevertheless, spoke.

“Robbie.” He said. It was probably the only word the confused superhero was able to speak out, but he forced to talk further. “I...I can't believe you're here.”  
“And I was hoping you wouldn't.” Robbie muttered, still not looking at the hero.  
  
“I can't believe you're – Oh Robbie, I have been looking for you, everywhere.” Sportacus, now that he actually had opened his mouth, wasn't able to close it.  
“I've been in every town around Lazytown, the woods and the mountains, _everywhere,_ looking for you. I was so afraid you were really gone.”  
  
Robbie made a face that displayed disbelief. “You've really been searching everywhere for me? Aren't you too busy saving lives and kicking the children out of their beds to force them into physical strain?”  
  
“Robbie!” Sportacus blurted. “You've been gone for half a year! _Of course_ I would have looked for you. The children were worried sick, _I_ was worried sick! We all thought you ran away, or something happened to you.”  
  
“Then maybe, just maybe that is _exactly_ what I was going for, Sportakook.” Robbie hissed. “I think I remember that I told you not to follow me. And that for a very, very good reason.”  
Sportacus face fell. Robbie could see an expression on the elf's face that was beyond anything Robbie had ever seen.  
  
“Reason? What reason, Robbie?”  
  
Robbie didn't answer. He looked away from the superhero again, and heaved a heavy sigh. He was glad that Sportacus didn't press for an answer, because he wasn't sure Sportacus would even understand. He barely understood himself.  
Sportacus agitated voice had startled the little bundle that rested in his arms. The baby raven croaked a little upset, tried lifting its enormous head, but it dropped helplessly back into Sportacus' hold. It breathed heavily from the strain and moved only minimally. Sportacus' hands shared warmth into that small helpless, naked body.  
  
An idea came to Sportacus mind. An about idea why Robbie had left, now that he considered the circumstances. He remembered the last time a female of his species had tried to court him, and seeing as he had not been all too enthusiastic about it, even afraid of it, this whole scenario he found his friend in made it more and more confusing to the superhero.  
  
Sportacus lifted his head, and looked up to the nest in the tree. “You've been living here for the past five months...?” he asked.  
  
“Well, no.” Robbie pulled up his eyebrows. “I've just moved in here a few weeks ago. I've been flying around a lot, you see, the vagabond life is not as terrible as people make it look like.”  
  
Before Sportacus could respond, wings flapped close to his ear and the smaller brown female raven landed gracefully on top of Sportacus knee. Whatever it was that was stuck in her beak, she now dropped it on top of the hero's thigh, and threw him an expecting glance.  
  
“Whats this?” Sportacus asked.  
“Your welcoming gift.” Robbie said.  
  
Sportacus eyed the dead animal that now laid on top of his leg, shaggy, mangled bones and blood soaking into the fabric, and he tried not to look shocked, or dare he say, disgusted.  
“Th-Thanks.” He grinned sheepishly towards the female raven.  
  
She blinked slowly at him, and looked between Sportacus and the man sitting across, and then down at her baby lying inside Sportacus' arms. Robbie gave her a simple nod. She understood, worry gone after he assured her that the fledgling was save down here with them, especially in its savior's arms. She then blinked slowly and croaked, opened her wings again, and flapped off and up to the tree, landing gracefully in the nest.  
  
Sportacus looked after her, and then, he turned his gaze back to Robbie, who was, like him, staring up the tree. Sportacus' notion only confirmed further.   
He was convinced that this had to be Robbie's new family. His wife, and child. That this was the true reason that Robbie had left and had not returned.  
  
For some reason, Sportacus felt a strange sting in his chest. Of course, he should be happy for Robbie. He seemed to have found his special someone, even if it was another animal, and...not _himself_. The thought of their kiss, last year, it came back so suddenly, and out of all the moment he thought about it with sorrow, it stung the most right now.  
  
“She is nice.” Sportacus said, and forced a smile on his face. “Very polite.”  
  
Robbie turned his attention back to the superhero.  
“She is _not_ my mate, if you're thinking that.” He spat.  
  
Sportacus blinked, and threw him a confused look. “She... _isn't?_ ”  
  
“No, of course she's not!” Robbie blurted. “Didn't I tell you I'm not made for the married life?”  
  
“But...But the nest. Y-Your female friend? Uh – this here.” He lifted his arms with the fledgling resting inside.  
  
Robbie took in a deep and long breath. “I was stopping at the pond a few yards away for a drink when I noticed an owl was harassing the lady's nest. Her husband tried defending the tree, but, well...he was torn apart right there, tumbled ten feet to the ground. And I couldn't just sit there and watch. So, I attacked and scared him off.” He tapped the cut on his face.  
  
“All her eggs fell out of the nest. Well...all but Rottenella here.” Robbie nodded towards the fledgling in Sportacus' arm. “Since then she tolerated me around her and the nest, and since I didn't have any other home to go to...”  
  
“Aw, Robbie, you were babysitting her?” Sportacus asked with softness in his voice.  
“Babysitting? Are you kidding me? This here is nothing like babysitting! This here is a bloody full-time job! That little monster is a constant attention- and eating machine! I come home with a big juicy mouse, and what does she do? She swallows it whole and asks for _more!_ All the time, more, more, _more!_ ”  
  
But Sportacus didn't seem to mind the way Robbie spoke about his adoptive daughter's eating habits, he was touched that Robbie, out of all people that disliked children, had chosen to raise a stranger's baby.  
“This is very, very sweet, generous and mature of you, Robbie, taking care of a baby that lost its father.”  
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” The villain blew a stray strand of hair out of his face. “I was apparently damned to be around children my entire life, anyway.”  
  
On cue, the small bundle in Sportacus' arms began fidgeting. Sportacus looked down into the big pink maw of the baby. She screeched hoarsely, begging for food.  
Robbie rolled his eyes.  
  
“Give her to me, I'll calm her down.” Robbie said and Sportacus carefully maneuvered the raven into Robbie's hands. He watched attentively as Robbie, apparently already trained in this, placed the fledgling in the crook of his arm and rocked her a little. “There, there, you lil' sock puppet. It's alright.”  
  
Robbie snatched the dead mouse from Sportacus' knee. “I don't suppose you want to have that?”  
“I—Err, uhm. No.” He shook his head.  
“Good.”  
  
Robbie held the dead body above the baby's beak. She enthusiastically stretched her mouth open, crying out louder. Robbie dropped the mouse into the large mouth and watched as it was swallowed whole, with hair, bones and even its long thin tail. Finally the hungry cries died down to a comfortable croaking.  
  
Robbie wrapped the furry sleeve of his coat around the small naked body and held her close, as he rocked her further.  
“You gonna be quiet now?” he asked the baby, and seeing as she retreated further into the soft warm tufts of orange fur, the answer was yes.  
  
Robbie seemed a little absent minded as he continued to rock the chick. And the question that Sportacus wanted to ask the entire time grew more and more distant from his mind as he watched: 'When will you come back home'.  
  
“ _Sportacus? Sportacus where are you?_ ”  
  
Robbie and Sportacus simultaneously lifted their heads into the direction from where the voices came from.  
“You brought the brats here?”  
“We were taking a hike around the mountains.” Sportacus explained. “I suppose they are already wondering where I am.” The superhero jumped back onto his feet.  
  
He didn't instantly start to flip-flop off, as Robbie supposed. Instead, Sportacus turned around and looked back to the villain. “You, uhm. I suppose you won't come back with us. Right?”  
Robbie glanced up and into Sportacus' eyes. He opened his lips to respond, but no sound escaped him. Although Sportacus had appeared at his new home, the thought of coming back with him had never occurred to him.  
  
Robbie licked his lip and looked far off into the distance of the forest. “Well, I suppose I have to, don't I?” Robbie asked.

And Sportacus, to Robbie's surprise, he answered: “Of course you don't have to.” The elf smiled, and put his fists into his sides.  
“I can see that you have your own responsibilities now, like I do. I protect the people I love and cherish, and you do the same. I can't take you away from the one's that need you. Well - Even if we need you too.”  
  
Robbie sneered loudly. “ _You_ don't need me, Sportacus. Have you forgotten that you are a superhero, and I'm the villain? And that your task is to drive me away from _your_ town and _your_ fanclub as far as possible?”  
  
Sportacus' smile showed an almost sympathetic edge.  
“I would never drive you out of town, Robbie. You are part of it, after all, and a very important and cherished part of the town and the children's live. And I could never remove it by force.” He knelt down, as if he was talking to one of his minions, while Robbie still towered him by at least a head.  
  
“I'm asking you to come back because we do need you. Not only because of our titles. A villain needs a hero. And a hero needs a villain – but the children need you too. You're an important part of their life. You've always been. And...and at this point...”  
  
And Sportacus did something immensely strange in this moment. He got up, and put a hand to his head; pulled the cap off and honey blonde locks fell into Sportacus' face. He placed the cap on top of Robbie's knee. The same cap Robbie had stolen and carried away in previous time.  
  
“You are very important to me, too.”  
  
Robbie had no time to answer. Sportacus had already started flipping down the knoll through the trees with a strange Sportacus-typical grace, before he vanished again in a blue blur.  
  
Robbie found himself leaned over, his hand lightly stretched out. He quickly curled it into a fist again and drew it back, instead picking up the piece of blue cloth. Robbie sighed deeply. Dammit, Sportadumb! Didn't he realize that he was important to him too? And that this had been the reason why he had left?  
  
How should he have made him clear that Robbie was very well aware that Sportacus had started to look less and less as a friend in his eyes, and more and more of someone he, a monogamous shapeshifter, wanted to have in his life, and only him. Forever and ever. Even if Sportacus would live longer than him, even if Robbie knew he would die before him. Even if his love may be one sided, forever.  
  
Wings fluttered through the air. The female raven landed softly next to Robbie, and stared off into the thin path between the trees where the quirky blue elf had run off to. She blinked and then softly cooed up to Robbie.  
  
“Yes. That's the person I told you about.” Robbie muttered. “He's terrible isn't he? Flipping around like he owns the place, this generous, warm-hearted, healthy _quack!_ ”  
  
She croaked again, a little louder, and Robbie literally flinched. His hand went straight to press against his chest as he goggled down at her.  
  
“Going _after_ him? I'm not going to follow this lunatic back into his boring, active, sports-fanatic town.” Robbie nearly crossed his arms before he noticed he still carried Rottenella.Instead, he pouted sourly.  
His companion would probably sigh at that moment if she could, at least, he believed, he saw her black eyes rolling in their sockets, and she jumped to sit on his thigh and look up to him. Her head tilted to each side.  
  
“I have wasted my time in this place long enough! I have wasted years to get Lazytown to where it was, I've wasted years to remove everything even slightly sports-enticing, and this blue kangaroo just comes out of nowhere and ruins it all for me! I've done anything to get him out of town, _everything!_ I've set up traps, I disguised, I used my most violent methods and my most brilliant ideas. I have done everything in my might, and nothing worked. And...and then this _Sportadunce_ takes the only thing, the one single thing I have _left_...”  
  
Robbie hadn't noticed he had jumped up from his seat, his free hand clutching onto his chest. Where his heart was beating. His eyes began to prickle. Instead of giving in to the wetness threatening to spill, he rubbed at his face and slumped his shoulders.  
The raven clacked with her beak.  
  
“I am _not_ in love with him!” Robbie growled, but it sounded more like a stoic child defending a stupid action. She clicked again.  
“No, I'm _not!_ ” Robbie whined, finally turning around, and throwing her an angry gaze. “I'm not making him my mate! I am a _bird!_  I don't take _elves_ as mates!”  
  
'A bird, really?' she seemed to say. 'I'm sure I'm looking at a six feet tall human.'  
“This is—I'm —I can change anytime, you know that!” Robbie stammered.

She rolled her eyes again and puffed up her brown feathers, and let out a soft coo. A soothing coo. And Robbie's features softened again.  
  
“Yes. I know.” He admitted. “Ugh. I can't have both, can I? You two, or this flipping, flopping, terribly handsome —”  
  
And suddenly, an idea latched in his mind, so quickly, it left him speechless for a moment, and _bing_ , a light-bulb switched on in his brain.  
  
“ _Of course!!_ ” he blurted, so loud, and sudden, the raven behind him actually flinched a little.  
  
“Steinunn, my darling.” Robbie wheeled around and knelt before her. “What would you say if you and the sock puppet here move with me into Lazytown? You two would be save there; No owls or predators - Well, there is this one cat that once got me, but I've put that flee-ridden bedrug into his place already! Nobody will bother you two, and the forest isn't even that far away, you could still go hunting. Or, well, you just wait until one of the brats drop their lunch on the floor, and no worries, they do that a lot. What do you say?”  
  
The raven stared back at him for a few seconds. She tilted her head from side to side, looked away from him sometimes and then focused back on him. Of course, what Robbie asked from her was huge, if not completely impossible. He asked her to give up the comfort and security of the vast forest, in order to adjust to a new life close to the humans.  
  
Steinunn stretched her wings and fluttered into the air, towards Robbie's shoulder where she rested, and nuzzled at his temple. 'I will think about it' she cooed into his ear, jumped down into his arm and eased her talons around the small body of Rottenella, secured in her grip, and she flapped back up the tree and into her nest.  
  
  


* * *

  
It's another wonderful day to play hide and seek in the fresh breeze and burning sun. Stephanie was counting, her face covered by her hands and turned towards the large oak.  
  
Trixie and Stingy both hid in the treehouse, after Stingy had tried to keep her out of _'his'_ hiding place, she put the boy in a headlock.  
  
Pixel had thrown himself into the nearest shrub in one of the houses front yards, activated the radar on his headgear and watched his wrist computer, in case he had to abandon his hiding place.  
  
Ziggy hid behind the bench where Robbie used to nap on. He wasn't hidden very well, because he kept peeking over the wooden construction, and his handmade cape stood in a very bright contrast with the thicket behind him.

Sportacus was 'hiding' far up on the fender of his airship. He laid on top on his belly, his head resting on his crooked arm. He did this a lot, when none of the children were in trouble. Ever since he had met Robbie in the woods, he stayed up here, waiting, looking up in the sky.  
  
He was lacking the energy to properly play with the children and that made him feel even more miserable, so he was glad the kids settled on hide-and-seek, an activity in which - completely opponent to his usual mindset – he had to move as few as possible for an elf with elven-depression.  
  
“Ninety-eight....ninety-nine...one hundred. Ready or not, here I come!” Stephanie turned around and began her search. Of course, she spotted Ziggy almost immediately, but acted as if she hadn't seen his head peeking up from behind the bench only seconds ago.  
  
“Hmm, no where are Trixie and Stingy I wonder.” She pondered loudly, and was greeted with hissed 'Get off me' and 'You're choking me' and 'Shut up' coming from the tree house. She found them, while Trixie was still holding Stingy down on the floor like a stoic animal, just so he wouldn't start attempting to kick Trixie out of the tree house.  
  
“I think you broke my neck.” Stingy rubbed his nape and threw Trixie a very sour gaze, once they were back on the floor and assisted Stephanie with finding the others. “Well, then you shouldn't have tried to get me out of my hiding place.” Trixie hissed back.  
“That was _my_ hiding place in _my tree house_!” Stingy growled.  
  
“Come on guys, lets go find the others.” Stephanie waved from across the street. “Maybe we can get Sportacus next!”And with some more angry hissing, the two rejoined their pink friends.  
  
A man strode through Lazytown. A stranger, as far as Ziggy could see, for he was the first to spot him. He was tall, with a dark coat, pin-striped trousers and polished shoes. He wore a hat, a monocle and a very neatly trimmed goatee. His cape was just as black as the rest of his clothes, and wafted in the wind majestically, much, much cooler than his very own, tattered cape.  
  
Ignoring his hiding space, he got up on his feet slowly. “Wow! Guys. Look at that.” he called, but the three were way too busy looking around the shrubbery.  
“Guys!” Ziggy called again. He didn't have to bother drawing their attention though, for that strange person slowly approached the group of children, his walking cane clacking loudly with every step.  
  
He came to a halt, right behind Stephanie, Trixie and Stingy. The three didn't notice him at first.  
“Maybe he hides in the trashcans!”  
“Why would he hide in a trashcan, Trixie?”  
“Well, didn't Robbie always say that Sportacus is trash?—”  
  
“Ahem.” The gentleman behind them cleared his throat.  
  
“Maybe he hides in the museum.” Stephanie suggested, but Trixie and Stingy were gridlocked.  
“So, _how_ do you believe Sportacus would fit into a trashcan?”  
“He is flexible, besides there are bigger trashcans than—”  
“ _Ahem!"  
_  
The three kids flinched and wheeled around. They spotted a tall man, with a walking cane in his hand, and a bowler on his head. He looked like a man that just had assassinated a former president.  
His cape, made out of long black feathers, seemed to softly sway, even if it was the least windy day of the week, and his bright gray eyes fixated onto the kids with a certain sternness.  
  
“Excuse me, young rascals.” he spoke with a deep and raspy tone, and an exotic accent. “I am on zhe look-out for a superhero called Sportacus.”

“Yeah? So are we!” Trixie said.  
“Oh really?” the man raised an arched brow. “He's...not with you?”  
“He's hiding, duh.” Stingy folded his arms. “We're playing hide-and-seek.”  
  
“Ah. I see. He is engaging in boring childish games. As always.” the man tittered to himself and swirled his cane around.  
  
Trixie and Stingy looked pretty offended, but Stephanie stepped forwards."We hadn't had such pompous visits in a while.” She said. “Who are you, and where are you from, Sir?”  
“My name is Roberto Rottensotto Vincentio Brancaleone.“  
  
“Rob-Roberto Rott— That's _really_ your freaking name?!” Trixie blurted. “Who the heck has a name like _that?_ ”  
“Trixie, don't be rude! So you're italian, yes?” Stephanie asked.  
  
“... _M-Mile grande_ , yes, I am italian.” Roberto Rottensotto grinned, then cleared his throat loudly. “And I have come to talk to your towns superhero of zhe name of Sportacus. _Personally!_ ”  
  
“And why do you need to speak him?” Trixie asked, with skepticism in her voice.   
  
Roberto narrowed his eyes behind his monocle. He took hold of his cape and thoughtfully ran a hand over the feathers his cape was made out of.  “Well, young lady. I am a bird catcher. The best bird whisperer in the whole world. Majestically. Dexterously. _Ravishingly_ handsome!” he brushed a hand beneath the bowler and through his hair.  
  
"And a little _birdie_ told me that your town's hero just recently has lost a feathery friend of his.”  
  
Stephanie gasped. “Oh! Yes, he actually did! His friend, Mister Raven! And you've come to get him back for Sportacus?”  
“...Why, _suuure._ ” Roberto mumbled between his closed teeth. “But first; I'd like to speak your superhero friend myself. It is of urgent matters. Bird-catching business, you must know.”  
  
“Well, uhm. He's probably still hiding, but you can leave him a message.”  
The man clenched his teeth. “ No! No, no way, it is really important, young lady, and I cannot wait and leave messages. This is of most _urgent_ matters, you hear me?” he nearly forgot to integrate his italian accent, quickly cleared his throat and began again:  
“I mean, uh, sí, very importante.”  
  
“You could wait until we found him.” Stephanie suggested.  
“Or, you could _help_ us find him!” Stingy added.  
  
“Yeah, you can help us!” Ziggy agreed. “He always hides the best, we could use some help!”  
“Wha-wha-what?! _Help_ you? _Find_ him? I am a _bird catcher_ you sticky candyboy! Not a Sporta-flip-flop-lemondrop catcher!” The italian accent was gone for good.  
  
But Ziggy already grabbed the man's black feather-coat and pulled at it with surprisingly lots of power. “Come on, Roberto, lets go!”  
“H-hey, stop, let go of me! Let go, you're ruining my coat!!”  
  
  
The children all eagerly searched, and called Sportacus name, as they wandered through the town. All but the pink girl. She walked close to the birdcatcher.  
  
He hadn't been here for so long. Soaking in the pictures of the town he once called his home left a bitter taste on his tongue. Nothing had changed much, besides a few more flowers than usual growing at the side of the road and the weather was a little chilly for the season. But nothing else had changed, not even the kids. They were still tiny, gullible, nosy –

“So, how is italy?” Stephanie asked with a bright smile. “I've never been there, but I heard it's wonderful there.”  
Ugh. And she was still terribly talkative.  
  
“Why, sí, it's very wonderful...I guess?” the birdcatcher said, hesitantly, cleared his throat and knocked his walking cane on the ground with each step.  
“Is it true they make salami out of donkeys?”  
  
Roberto stared at her with saucer eyes and a shocked expression. “They do?!” he gasped. “I—I mean, uhm, yes, si, we do. It's old tradition of uh, donkey, uh, butchery.”  
  
“Wow. That's amazing.” the girl grinned. “So, and you're here to find Sportacus' bird, yes?”  
“Sí, sí, whatever, the most important part right now is that—”  
  
“It's really good you're here then! You see, ever since he left, Sportacus is really, really sad.” Stephanie looked down to her folded hands. “He was his pet, well, not really his pet, but he stuck around Sportacus all the time, ever since he rescued him. But then he flew away. He said its because the bird is a wild animal, and should live with his kin in the woods.”  
  
“Well, he is right about that. I am not— I mean, err, birds of prey won't tolerate being kept as pets. They want to be equals, if anything!” Roberto huffed, as if the girl had addressed him personally.  
“Hm. Maybe you're right. He was just always so attached to Sportacus, like a friend. And well, actually...that's not the only reason he's so sad. He actually did loose another friend recently. We all did, in fact.”  
  
Roberto's stern gaze faltered all of the sudden.  
“An, uh...A friend, huh?”  
  
“Yeah. Our town villain, Robbie Rotten. He was the best villain there was, or well, so he calls himself. He actually was a really big softie!”  
_  
Big softie?!_ Roberto made an indignant sound, but Stephanie didn't register it.  
  
“He always had amazing disguises, you could never tell it was him. And he made great inventions and devices. One time he build a robot version of Sportacus! And one time he turned Sportacus into a young kid by only using an umbrella. He always tried to capture Sportacus, and send him away. He always said he hated Sportacus, but I actually think Robbie just had a really huge crush on him.”  
  
The walking cane slipped out of Roberto's hand and collapsed to the floor with a loud, resounding _'clank'._  
  
“Oh, let me help you, Sir.” Stephanie quickly picked up the cane and held it into the bird catcher's reach. He sputtered unintelligible words and phrases, before he snatched it back from her hand.  
“I can take that myself, thank you!” he spat, striding down the street a little faster. Stephanie followed.  
  
“Sorry, Sir. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. Well, either way, Robbie left for no reason, about a year ago, and we could not find him. We all really do miss him. It's really empty and boring here without him, you know. And Sportacus appears anything but happy ever since. I know he acts like nothing is wrong, but I know he really misses Robbie, too. I remember that Sportacus actually came to me one afternoon and we discussed about how he could tell Robbie that he liked him. Like him _a lot_. And I told him 'take him for a trip through the forest, it's a wonderful day, maybe he will enjoy it. Just the two of you.' And he grabbed his bycicle and went straight over to Robbie's lair. Well, and afterwards, he came back home – without Robbie. He was completely freaking out, he searched for him all around Lazytown, and the other cities. But, well, he never returned.” She sighed.  
  
“Ah, I'm really sorry, you probably didn't want to hear all of that, your job is catching birds, and not listening to our problems. We just really miss our friends. We all loved him and admired him a lot, so, we are just still confused and sad that he is gone.”  
  
Roberto had stopped moving. His cane clenched tightly in both of his hands, the man seemed to fight against the tremble in his lower lip and wetness that threatened to spill.  
  
“Mister Roberto, is everything okay?”  
“Wh-What, I—” He flinched, and quickly rubbed at his face with his sleeve. “I'm _fine!_ Fine. I just got something in my eye...”  
  
“Stephanie! Mister Bird Catcher, come quickly, I think we found Sportacus!” Trixie and Pixel called.  
“Oh! Coming!” Stephanie quickly jumped over the fence of neatly cut shrubs, over to her friends.  
  
Now, Roberto was not gifted of high jumping abilities, or anything that involved sports anyway. He was left walking, squeezing through the spiky, scratchy clump of bushes. “Ugh, about time these munchkins finally found that flippedy-floppedy—”  
_  
Srratch !!!  
_  
Roberto's foot had tangled into a protruding root on the ground, throwing him out of balance and with a loud yelp, the bird catcher landed face-first on the hard concrete – his feather-cape ripped open, and his large dark coat sticking to the large spikes.  
  
“Ugh, Gah, this stupid – who even set these ugly shrubs in here?!”  
  
He froze, once he realized he was being watched. The children, all besides Pixel, had turned their heads towards the Bird catcher; but there was no birdcatcher anymore. The man's coat was gone, leaving him in striped pants and a blue turtleneck pullover. The mustache and bowler had tumbled to the floor, revealing jet-black hair fixed into a pompadour, and a very angular chin.  
  
“Hey guys, false alarm,” Pixel called into the silence. “It's not Sportacus, but someone lost their blue tank top here in the mayor's front yard – _oh_.”  
He now spotted the man across from them as well.  
  
Robbie gulped. He did not like the way the children stared at him, wide-eyed, mouth agape, completely paralyzed, not talking, not moving. How would they react? Would they shun him? Chase him out of town again? Yell at him? He could definitely imagine they'd yell at him. Yell at him for disappearing without a word, leaving them all worried over him.  
  
He never bothered about the children, and their opinions about him. But in this exact moment, he felt like he deserved every bit of hate such small and young souls could bear for a person ——  
  
_“Robbie Rotten!_ ” The children suddenly called out. And the first time, they didn't yell it in shock, in confusion, or in disdain – but in overwhelmed happiness.  
  
Robbie felt ten tiny arms wrap around his body and he was hugged and squeezed from all sides, young voices calling his name, “Robbie!”, and “You're back!”, and “We missed you so much!”  
Robbie was too bewildered to answer, or even return the hugs. He nearly lost balance from all the small bodies that swarmed him to wrap their arms around his lanky frame.  
  
“Okay, okay, err, okay it's enough now, kids. Yes, I'm back, I—”  
“ _Robbie!!_ ”  
  
The villain only saw a blue flash above his head, zooming closer – and the next body that squished itself against him in a tight hug surely did rip him off his feet. With a loud 'oomph', Robbie landed back on the floor, with Sportacus above him. Two hands held onto both sides of his face, all he saw were two crystal clear, blue planets sparkling above him.  
  
_“RobbieRobbie,OhRobbieyou'rebackIcan'tbelieveyou'reback,Robbie—”_  
“Sporta— _Agh_ , Sportadork, I can't breathe!!” Robbie gagged behind those strong arms that squeezed every ounce of air out of his chest. “Lungs collapsing...Internal bleeding...slow, painful death, _Gagh_!”  
  
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” the elf hiccuped, and quickly scrambled off of Robbie again, and before the villain could even think about getting up himself, these same strong arms pushed themselves beneath his form and lifted him up bridal-style.  
  
Robbie yelped as he was suddenly hovering a few feet over the floor, his hands instantly latched onto the back of Sportacus' neck and held onto him.  He barely heard the children laughing, cheering, clinging to their hero to celebrate Robbie's return - because all he could focus on was the way Sportacus beamed back at him with a smile as bright as one summer's day.

 

 

 


	7. What this grim, ghastly, ominous bird of yore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to split the last chapters in two. I just wrote way too much. AGAIN

“Where have you been?”  -  “Why did you leave?”  -  “Why didn't you come back?”   
  
Those were the questions the villain was flooded with, ever since Sportacus had maneuvered him and the kids to an isolated place to settle down on. They all decided to take the whole conversation to the bench beneath the old oak tree, everyone wanting to be the one to sit next to Robbie.  
  
The villain was definitely not used to so much attention at once, coming from all directions. Sportacus ushered them all down as much as possible, to give him room to breathe, and finally speak as well.  
  
“Okay guys, easy now. I know we all have questions to ask, but Robbie just arrived. Let's take it one at a time.”  
  
Robbie felt thankful, though decided to pout at him. “You think I couldn't handle two or three questions at once, Sportaflop? Tsk! Alright, who wants to ask first?” He turned to the kids, and everyone at once raised their hands and called 'me, me.'  
  
“Uh, yeah, loud girl?”  
“Where have you been all this time?”  
  
“I was...well. I was off on a journey of self-discovery.” Robbie explained, and threw Sportacus a knowing gaze.  
  
“You went off to find _yourself?_ ” The kids echoed in confusion. “Did you loose yourself at some point?”   
“It's an _idiom_ , you midgets.” Robbie rolled his eyes. “Next question.”  
  
“Why have you been gone for so long?” The Pink girl asked. “We all were scared something has happened to you. Sportacus has been – “  
“Looking everywhere for me, yes. I know.” Another gaze up to the superhero. “I, on the other hand, have been looking for...moving opportunities.”  
  
The kids stared at him. “You wanted to move away?” Ziggy asked.  
“Correction – I _already_ did move. And if Sportanuisance over here wouldn't have found me, I'm very certain I still would be gone.”  
  
“But why did you want to move at all? We thought Lazytown is your home.”  
“It _was_ , kiddo. It _was_. There is a significant difference between 'is' and 'was'.”  
  
Silence. Everyone looked more or less shocked and confused at the villain.  
“Oh, please, don't look at me like that's the news of the year. Lazytown stopped being my home the moment you started being noisy and loud and terribly defensive of your superhero. I've done everything to drive him out of town, and nothing worked. My position as a villain was obsolete.”  
  
“But without you, the town was boring.”  
  
Robbie paused. “ _Boring?_ ” he repeated incredulously. “Don't you mean 'better'? Or 'liberated'?”  
  
“No. We mean boring.” Stephanie said. It was strange, coming from the superhero's most loyal friend.   
  
“We haven't had anybody playing with us except Sportacus.” “Yeah. Every day became the same at some point. Getting up, playing sports until late and then back to bed.”  
“I actually did try replacing you.” Trixie explained. “And I thought I was pretty good actually.”  
“But it simply wasn't... _you._ ”  
  
Robbie looked even more bewildered as he noticed that one came from Sportacus.   
“You always had the coolest, most brilliant disguises, Robbie.” Pixel added. “We were never able to look through them.”  
“We were always genuinely surprised when we saw it was you who was playing pirate with us.”  
“Or cowboy.”  
“Or rockstar.”  
  
Robbie originally wanted to drop a comment on how immensely naive and stupid they must be to be fooled so badly over and over again. But it was stuck in his throat. Did these brats really say the truth? Did they really like his disguises? Did they really miss him throughout the entire time? Did they really want him back?  
  
He noticed a shifting on the bench he sat on. One of the kids, it had to be the candyboy, Sibbie or what his name was, he had climbed up to the wooden construction and onto Robbie's lap.  
  
“I'm sorry if we annoyed you, Robbie. We never meant to make you feel this way, and we really didn't want you to feel unwelcome and hated, or the need to leave. We just wanted you to play with us.” He rested his head against Robbie's belly and hugged as much of him as his short arms could reach. “Please don't be mad at us, Robbie, we love you.”  
  
Robbie sat there, frozen to the spot. He had never had any of the children hug him like that.   
  
Or, in fact, anybody hug him like that.   
  
He gulped, once, twice, biting on his lower lip. He glanced between the children, and all of them seemed to agree with what Ziggy had said. At some point, Stephanie got up as well, sat down on the bench, and wrapped her arms around Robbie's ribcage, resting her head on his shoulder.  
  
Robbie made a small, choked sound at the second set of arms around him, and then a third set of arms, from the pigtail girl, and another set of arms, the stingy boy, and another, from Poodle, or what his name was.   
All the kids hugged him, not rushed or pushy, but genuine and...with love. 

Robbie felt wetness swelling inside his eyes. He looked over to the superhero with his lower lip trembling, and Sportacus threw him a soft glance that reflected an 'I-told-you-so' attitude. He too approached and placed a hand on his shoulder, the only space that wasn't occupied by hugging children. Robbie fought hard against the tears, but ultimately lost. One or two rolled down his cheek, sometimes he gave a dry sob or a sniffle.   
  
It's a good thing that pink girl suggested to bring some of her uncle's lemonade over, and soon everyone had a fresh cold glass of lemonade in their hands, Sportacus' one without sugar, and Robbie's with extra sugar.  
They all drank in silence, until the children began chattering again, about all the things they were to experience again, now that Robbie was back, started chasing a few butterflies, played hopscotch or skipped ropes.  
  
Robbie furtively glanced over to Sportacus. Ever since he had left his hat at Robbie's, he hadn't bothered hiding his hair, nor his ears. Honeyblonde locks fell over his handsome face, transitioning into darker brown around the back of his neck. As much as he may bear grudges against the superhero, he still felt tempted to draw his fingers through that hair and feel just how soft it was and –  
  
“Oh. You still have it.” Sportacus had turned his head towards the villain. Robbie blinked confused for a moment before realizing he had absentmindedly drawn out the hero's cap he had stored in his pocket. Robbie rolled his eyes.   
  
“Noo, I was just about to throw it away.” He said sarcastically. “You forgot this at the nest, and I was so generous to bring it back to you.”   
  
He handed the cloth over to the superhero, and Sportacus took it with a soft smile. “Well, I didn't really forget it there.” Sportacus admitted. “I left it there for you in case you really were going to stay in the woods, and wanted you to have something to remember.” He put the cap back onto his head, and somehow, Robbie regretted it to hand it back, watching that soft hair disappear again.   
  
Remember. Right. This was the moment Robbie recalled why he had come to town in the first place. And which time would be better if not right now, now that the children were busy and wouldn't notice if they would disappear for a few minutes.  
  
Robbie got up from his seat. “We need to talk.” He said.  
Sportacus' eyebrows raised. “Uh. Right now?”  
“Yes.  _Now._ ”  
  
Robbie grabbed Sportacus' by the vest and dragged him behind the trunk of the large oak; they didn't know Stephanie and Trixie actually noticed them vanishing together, and throwing knowing looks into each others directions, large toothy grins stretching over their faces.   
  
The two men settled behind the tree. For a moment, neither spoke. They just eyed each other for a while. Robbie had lost the pale grayness in his skin, he looked much much healthier since the last time they met.  
  
The cut on his face was almost completely erased, nothing but a soft dark streak along his cheek. His hair was fixed, he wore his usual attire, and even his purple-ish eyeshadow was on point as always. It's like he had never even left town.  
  
Sportacus on the other hand, once he stopped beaming like a supernova, looked... different. He was still as strong and lively as ever, and seemed yet so much weaker, smaller, and insignificant. His soft eyes were watery, and lost a tremendous amount of color and brightness. From a certain angle, they almost looked like the eyes of a dead fish. Though Sportacus seemed attentive and a breath of life had been blown into him, Robbie could only imagine what the superhero must have looked like without it.  
  
“Elven depression? Really?” Robbie scoffed. “Sportadoofus, I'd have expected anything from you, really - but that? I thought you'd be  _unflappable_ .”  
_  
_ Sportacus' eyes widened and he quickly looked away, apparently that topic was terribly embarrassing for the superhero. “So did I. This doesn't usually happen to my kind.” He explained, and rubbed at his eyes, as if he could blow the staleness out of them.  
“Only to elder elves. And only when they loose their...I mean, when they loose family members.”   
  
It felt like Sportacus was going to say something different, but stopped himself from speaking it out.“I didn't want the kids to notice...”  
“Is that why you hid up on your airship?” Robbie frowned.   
  
Sportacus nodded.   
  
Robbie gave a huff. But didn't further comment on it.  “Either way. I meant to talk to you, personally. Way before these brats would have found out I'm back in town.” he flicked his hand as if he tried to get rid of an annoying fly. “I have made a decision.”  
  
Sportacus blinked expectantly at him.  
  
“I will stay.  _IF_ —” And Robbie raised his finger the moment he saw Sportacus' face lighting up again. “If my companion and her baby will be able to come with me.”  
  
The sportself stared back at him. He didn't seem angry with his decision; Not even like he would disagree or forbid it, or displeased that Robbie was setting premises.   
If anything, he almost looked like this was the best idea the villain could ever come up with.   
  
“You want to take them with you into town?” he echoed.  
“Yes. They have sheltered me, and provided a home when I had nowhere to go. I will return that favor, and provide them an owl-proof environment.”  
  
Sportacus' heart was bouncing in all directions inside his chest. Robbie, the villain, the so called 'bad guy', he who always claimed he couldn't care less about people, wanted to make sure his friend and his adoptive child would be safe and sound.  
  
“Of course you can take them here, Robbie!” Sportacus instantly blurted. “We never had a bird family in Lazytown, I'm sure the kids wouldn't mind at all, either!”  
“Yeah, uh. And that's where the problems begin. The kids.” Robbie interrupted. He had predicted Sportacus would look immensely confused at that, so he elucidated further.  
  
“I can tell from first-hand experience that they are rather reckless with the environment around them. Throwing balls and stomping on the floor like there's no tomorrow, letting their domesticated fleebags run freely around the area.”  
“Well, they are kids, Robbie. You cannot forbid them to be young and active.”  
  
Robbie made an angry noise. “You may think I cannot. But I will try nevertheless!” he wiggled his pants up his torso.   
  
“ _If_ I return, and  _if_ I'm going to take them with me, you must promise me that you will not let the kids play around their nest with anything that involves throwing balls at neck-break velocities, stomping on the floor like jackhammers and you will not let them climb up into their tree. That doesn't apply for the kids only – for you as well!"  
  
Sportacus smiled, before he placed his hand on top of his chest. “Cross my heart, Robbie, we will treat them with respect and stay out of their preferred space. I will explain the kids that they have to be careful, so they wont disturb them.”  
  
“So, I have your word, Sportaclown?” Robbie stretched his hand out.   
“You have my word.” Sportacus eagerly took Robbie's hand. Yet instead of shaking it, Sportacus suddenly jerked him forwards, Robbie yelped, and found himself pressed against the strong body of the superhero. His arms wrapped around Robbie and his cheek pressed against his chest.   
  
Robbie was frozen there, so this seemed Sportacus' way of agreeing to terms – hugging people.  
  
“Sportahug let go of me. The kids could see us...” Robbie hissed.  
“Oh. Right. Sorry.” Sportacus chuckled nervously and let go of the lanky man. “I'm just. Really happy to have you back here, Robbie.”  
“I shall remind you of that when I finally have you captured and kicked you out of town!”   
  
And Sportacus laughed. And despite Robbie being absolutely serious, he couldn't help but feel his face relax and his knees softening slightly at that angelic sound.   
  


* * *

Sportacus was riding his bike through the forest. Robbie flew close by, either hovering a few feet above his head, sitting on his shoulder, or resting comfortably in the small bicycle basket in the front. The wind moved through his feathers and swayed a few of Sportacus' loose hair that poked from beneath his hat.

  
They were heading back towards the nest. To pick up Rottenella and her mother.   
  
After both of them agreed to keep them in Lazytown, and after Sportacus finally had stopped hugging Robbie, the superhero had rounded the children up to have a conversation with them.  
  
“Guys, I need to talk to you. It's very important.”  
Without hesitation, the five kids stopped playing and planted themselves on the floor, all eyes on the elf. Robbie didn't catch much about what exactly they were talking, staying behind his tree and thinking of a way to get Steinnun to agree to this plan. He did however notice that Sportacus was explaining them about staying away from a particular area in near future.  
  
“Why?” asked the pigtail girl.  
  
“Well, thanks to Robbie who drew my attention to it today, a mother bird is building her nest here. I suppose she will have her eggs here, and she is currently on the search for a suitable tree to rest in.”  
  
“But those are  _my_ trees.” Stingy complained.   
  
“She won't take it from you forever, Stingy. She will just borrow it for a few months, until her baby's have left the nest.”  
  
He explained them that watching from a distance was fine, but making loud startling noises, approaching or climbing the tree and forcefully remove their nest was out of the question.   
  
Stingy was, as usual, not entirely happy with changes, especially when it came to changes with  _his_ things. But the rest agreed, and seemed excited and happy to have a bird family move into Lazytown, for it wasn't common to see a lot of animals around.   
  
They once had a gang of wild geese around, but those were immense bullies. This time, Sportacus assured them that said bird would not bite them or chase them – as long as they respected their privacy.  
  
The sun was bright and warm and Sportacus enjoyed the last few rays of today, before the sun would sink again, and probably leave with another rainy spring day. Soon they crossed the meadow with the grazing cows, and past the wooden fence, towards the old cherry tree at the pond, where he parked his bicycle.  
  
“Alright, so, left, left right and straight through the trees, yes?” Sportacus asked, and Robbie nodded. The raven jumped from the basket up to Sportacus' shoulders, but before he could even settle, the sports-fanatic was already flipping into said direction, and Robbie slipped off with a startled screech.  
  
Ugh! This guy hasn't changed a bit. He was still as hyperactive as he always was!  
  
Sportacus flipped and cartwheeled through the forest, up the knoll, with Robbie following.   
  
He came to a halt right beneath the high tree where he had met Robbie a few months ago. It was still big and dark and intimidating with how little leaves it had.  
  
“We're here?” he asked and Robbie croaked an affirmative as he flew around the tree trunk and appeared in his human form a few moments later. Sportacus still had to get accustomed to the sight of Robbie suddenly standing there with no clothes on.  
  
“Alright. You stay here. I'll go up and talk to her. Once she gives the okay, we will drop the nest down to you and I will carry Rottenella to the city, got it?”  
  
“U-Uhm.”Sportacus blinked rapidly to take his eyes off of Robbie's nude form. “Alright, Robbie.” The superhero settled on a tree stump, a pink flush spread over his cheeks which Robbie missed to notice as his form collapsed in a wave of feathers.   
  
He swung himself with a few powerful flaps into the tree, and settled on the large branch that led into the small cavity inside the trunk. He croaked to announce his arrival. No answer. Robbie frowned and hopped along the branch, closer to the hole.  _Hello? Anybody here?  
_   
That's when he remembered the bird etiquette.   
  
Robbie rolled his pale eyes, and pushed himself off the branch again. He flew back towards the floor. Sportacus had abandoned the tree stump and did push-ups instead.   
“Hey, are you back alre —?”  
  
_Woosh!!  
_   
Robbie miss the superhero's ear by only a few inches, vanished in the thicket, a pained screech echoed beneath the shrubbery, and Robbie flapped back up in the air, a large frog in his beak. He carried his prey up into the tree.  
_'Look what I got here for you.'_ Robbie bounced on the bough. And surely, he soon heard the hungry cries of Rottenella inside the nest, begging to be fed. Robbie hopped closer, leaned in to pass his gift towards the little fledgling —  
  
A pair of talons appeared out of the darkness. Robbie felt a powerful push, then searing pain. In shock and surprise, he tumbled backwards and the frog slipped from his beak.  
What the heck was that?!  
  
He looked back into the nest. A pair of dark eyes stared back at him, wide and filled with hate. He even heard a soft hissing coming from inside the cave.  
_  
'Steinnun?'_ he asked furtively. The female raven hissed louder. Finally, she stepped outside the dark hole, wings spread wide, each step slow and intimidating. Robbie backed up slowly. He may be at least a head taller than her, but in this moment, he felt as small as a mouse.  
  
_'S-Steinnun, my dear, what is –?'  
_   
She attacked. With her beak stretched wide open, she screeched like a banshee, wings flapped, talons gripped and scratched at him and punched and pushed him, feathers tumbled through the air, and a blend of angry and pained screeches echoed through the forest. Sportacus had stopped his push-ups, once he had noticed something was terribly going wrong up there.  
  
“Robbie?!” he called. “Robbie, what's going on?”  
His question was answered as suddenly a bundle of black feathers tumbled off the branch and towards the floor. Sportacus instantly made a very extravagant jump forwards, and caught whoever just fell out of the tree. The weight inside his arms grew heavier at once.  
  
“You  _shrew!_ You old virago!” Robbie clamored angrily up the tree, one hand around Sportacus' neck, the other curled into a fist. “You fire and acid spitting dragon!”   
  
“Robbie, what happened up there? You're bleeding!” Sportacus stared down at Robbie's scratched up face. The villain growled and rubbed at his cheeks. Luckily the cuts weren't deep.  
  
“That old vulture pushed me off the branch, that's what happened!” He hissed. Sportacus threw a gaze up to the tree. The female raven was still there, jumping over the branch, wings stretched and cawing.   
  
For some reason, she seemed immensely unhappy, and even hostile. “She looks upset.” he noted. “Have you said or done anything to her?”  
“Who do you take me for, Sportaloon?” Robbie defended himself. “I might be a villain but I still know how to treat a lady-bird with respect!”  
  
Sportacus frowned, and looked up to the nest again. Something must have happened. Otherwise, she wouldn't have fought him off so violently.  
  
“This is just beyond the pale.” Robbie growled, as he moved out of Sportacus' arms. “I defend the nest, I carry food, I sit in that stinking nest for hours to keep the sock puppet warm, I stay up all night long to keep an eye out for intruders, and  _this_ is what I get in return!”  
  
“Robbie?”  
“ _What?_ ” The villain spat.  
  
Sportacus pointed up. “Do you mind if I go up there for a second?”  
  
Robbie stared at him. “You? Up there? Are you nuts?” He blurted. “Didn't you just see what she does to you if you get close?! That beast will rip you apart!”  
“Something's not right. My crystal is flashing. Maybe I could talk to her.” Sportacus said, but Robbie only snorted.   
  
“Pff, sure – Sportacus, the bird whisperer, fluent in birdish and reading women.”  
“I just want to help, Robbie.” Sportacus said. He looked hurt, he realized Robbie was making fun of him. His thin eyebrows knitting together in the center of his handsome face. Robbie's heart sunk hard with regret –  
  
“—Whatever! Be my guest then.” Robbie growled, crossed his arms and leaned against the tree trunk, snapping his finger and his usual orange coat wrapped around his naked form. Sportacus took Robbie's invite, and started climbing the tree.  
  
“But be careful not to break any branches, you hear me?”  
“I'm an sportself, we don't weigh as much as a feather, Robbie –!”  
“Just don't damage the tree,  _stupid_ !”  
  
Sportacus moved swiftly, climbing up the trunk with ease. Grabbing at each protruding branch, he crawled up to the sky, meter for meter, graceful as a cat. Robbie watched as Sportacus approached the large bough where he just had tumbled off from a few minutes ago.   
  
The superhero swung his legs over it and sat on top, looking into the small cave inside the bark.  
“Hello!” Sportacus greeted joyfully into the cave. “How are you Missus raven? My name is Spo —”  
  
A loud screech, and feathers flapped angrily around Sportacus' head. The sportself yelped, and instantly pushed his forearm into his face, as sharp talons scratched and clawed at his hair his face, his neck, but especially for the eyes.   
  
“Hey, hey, calm down.” Sportacus' swung his arm to keep her away from his body. Seeing as this opponent was much much bigger than the male raven a few moments ago, she instantly retreated into the cave, into the dark shadows where the sun didn't hit. Silence. Nothing but brown feathers that still corkscrewed in the air, and carefully, Sportacus removed his arm from his face.  
  
“Missus Raven.” he carefully asked. “I'm not going to hurt you. I just came here to talk.”  
  
No answer. Not even any hungry cries from Rottenella. “I uhm – Robbie told me you usually bring a gift to the bird you like to talk to, as bird etiquette. I have some sportscandy, if you'd like that.” Sportacus carefully fetched an apple from his pocket and placed it in front of the entrance. And waited. After a moment or two, a beak appeared from the shadows, picked up the stem and as fast as it came, it disappeared, the apple vanishing in the shadows. At least she accepted his gift.  
  
Sportacus inched closer. “Missus Raven, uhm. Steinnun, isn't it? Is everything okay? Why did you attack Robbie?”  
Silence.  
  
“He didn't mean to scare you. We just arrived to ask you if you still want to come to Lazytown with us.”  
  
Still, there was no answer. A few weak croaking noises, but no sign of the raven replying. Sportacus looked around. There were deep lines in the tree, thin and parallel, the bark was partly town off. Sportacus realized they were traces of claws. His crystal finally picked up on the feeling of tension that radiated off of the tree. It stopped bleeping, but it never stopped tensing inside the center of his chest.  
  
“Have you been attacked?” he asked. “Did anything happen to you two?”  
  
And finally. Finally, a foot reached out on the branch, and another foot. The raven walked out of the nest – but now she looked small, furtive, scared perhaps; completely different from her angry self only moments ago. Her dark eyes stared at him, wide, full of fear and sorrow. He was sure, if she could, she would probably shed tears this moment.  
  
A few moments later, after she accepted Robbie back close to the nest, she made low croaking noises, communicating with the other avian. It was a long conversation, for Sportacus could see the sun setting behind the mountains Once they were done, both fluttered down the tree. The female raven carried the nest in her talons, Rottenella was secure in Robbie's grip. She seemed to enjoy the flight, she was flapping her tiny naked arms and screeched loudly.   
  
“So, what happened?” Sportacus asked, once Robbie was turned back to his human form. He had a very grim look on his face. This sounded like something serious.  
  
“An eagle tried attacking them.” Robbie explained. They stored the nest in the bicycle basket, Robbie carried Rottenella, and her mother in the other arm. Sportacus pushed the bicycle along the trail, back home. “They were lucky though. Turns out eagles cant fit through the hole in the bark.”  
  
But Robbie looked anything but happy. “Agh, I'm the worst person on earth! I left them there on their own.”  
“She let you go, I thought?” the elf asked.  
“Yes, but I didn't mean to take this long until I would have returned. I've been in Vanitytown to get my birdcatcher disguise and sewing equipment, and I was stuck there for at least a week! Let me tell you, traveling through that town may take an entire year.”  
 _  
“Really?”_ Sportacus blinked. "How so?"  
  
Robbie mumbled a short comment about 'high-quality makeup stores', but cleared his throat quickly. “God knows what could have happened if I wouldn't have returned in time today.”  
  
“You couldn't have competed to an eagle, Robbie.” Sportacus soothed, but Robbie pouted.  
  
“I've send bigger animals to hell! I can take at least two eagles at once!"  
  
Steinnun pressed herself closer to Robbie's form, and cooed loudly. She was happy to have him back, feeling save and protected.  
  
“It is good we bring her away from here. There are lots of predators roaming around here, and Lazytown will keep them save.” Sportacus smiled.  
“As long as the brats don't get too close to them.”  
“They won't. Cross my heart, remember?” Sportacus drew an X over his chest, and Robbie sighed; but nevertheless, he grinned, walking with the sportself down the dusty road and back to town. 

 


	8. Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, I dearly apologize for not updating for such a long while. I haven't felt 100% confident with this chapter until today, on top of that I am busy renovating the house.   
> Either way, here it is, as always I hope you enjoy it! Its a little longer this time, but I believe that shouldn't be an issue!

Robbie stayed close to the nest for the first evening. Once back in town, they started roaming through the outer lines of the borders of Lazytown, to find a suitable tree, high enough so the kids wouldn't reach it, but not too high, in case Rottenella's first attempts to fly would go wrong.   
  
They chose a tall copper beech located between a few shrubs. Sportacus climbed up the branches, until he found a bough strong enough to carry the broad nest. Robbie, Steinnun and Rottenella settled into the new house.   
  
Sportacus heard a few more noises, one or two times a stressed or angry hissing, then, comfortable silence. Sportacus saw Robbie's friend cuddling against him, searching warmth and comfort, head tugged under his wing and croaking softly into his plumage.

Sportacus, though he knew he probably shouldn't, stared. A feeling, one he couldn't really pinpoint, spread bitterly inside his throat.  
“I'll be with the kids, Robbie.” Sportacus informed him. He didn't know if he actually received a response, because he was already flip-flopping away.   
  
He knew Robbie had duties. Different duties than before, duties that were comparable with Sportacus own. And still, Sportacus felt...betrayed, if anything.  
They had Robbie back, after a year of feeling worried, after a whole year of searching for him, even though he had been so close the entire time. And now, that they had him back, he still belonged to someone else.  
  
Perhaps, he bitterly thought, searching for him had been a bad decision. Perhaps he should have left him in the woods, where he obviously was needed, and where he felt home.   
  
He was caught in thoughts, and only registered that he had flipped back into town when he heard Ziggy's voice calling “I'll get it”, as he chased after a soccer ball. The ball rolled to Sportacus feet and came to a halt.   
Sportacus picked it up with a dexterous flick of his boot and bounced it into his hand. Ziggy came to a halt as well.   
  
“You got my ball.” he said happily.  
  
“You guys are playing soccer?”  
  
“Yeah, but we changed the rules a little bit!”  
“Oh?”  
“Yeah! The one who catches the ball when it rolls out of the soccer field gets an extra point! This would have been the first time I would have gotten one.” he looked a little mopey as he stared at the ball in Sportacus hand. “And we're loosing.”  
  
“Really? Well, count me in your team then!”  
And Ziggy's face beamed instantly.  
  
They played for a while, about an hour, or two, before they had a break to get some fresh water. It was a warm day and none of the children should become dehydrated on Sportacus' watch.  
  
Stephanie sat on the wall and wrote into her diary, when she noticed Sportacus was freeing the playground of sports equipment and cleaning up with a strange expression on his face.  One she knew, she had seen it when Robbie had been gone. But Robbie was back. Now there wasn't a reason to be sad anymore – right?  
  
“Sportacus, are you okay?” She asked. Sportacus flinched a little, and looked over his shoulder. “Oh. Yes. I'm alright Why you ask?” He obviously tried to look more upbeat than he really was.  
“Well, just asking. You seem a little sad.”  
“Sad?” Sportacus asked as if that was something he had never heard before. “No, no. I'm not sad. Not at all.”  
  
But she knew better. She scooted a little to the side, and then patted the spot next to her on the stone wall, and Sportacus followed her invitation, sitting next to her with his hands folded and his mouth curled into a friendly smile.  
  
“You wanted to talk about something, Stephanie?”  
“You don't look like everything is okay, Sportacus.” She said. “You look just like the time when Robbie was out of town.”  
  
“I looked different during that time?” Sportacus blinked. He felt caught. He hadn't wanted the children to know something was wrong with him, but sometimes he truly underestimated the wits of human children.   
“Yeah. You always have that crease in your forehead. Here.” she tapped on her own for emphasizing. Sportacus rubbed at his forehead. He didn't know about that.  
  
“Well,” Sportacus blinked. Should he really explain her why he felt sad? Would she even understand? The elf was sure Stephanie was way more mature and understanding than most kids her age when it came to finding solutions to problems. He looked at his hands, and up to her face again.  
How should he word this without giving away too much?  
  
“Do you know this feeling when you have a friend that...well...is your friend, but he doesn't really seem to be your friend either?”  
She blinked. “So, like – you and Robbie?”  
Sportacus pressed his lips together tightly.  
  
“A little bit like this, yes.” He said. “So, Robbie and me are friends. But there is also someone else, you know, someone that is Robbie's friend, for example. And they depend on each other a lot.”  
“Robbie has a new friend? Who is he? Is he here in Lazytown?”  
  
“Well, not really. He, uhm. Actually,  _she_ lives just close by. And I'm glad they know each other, Robbie deserves a lot of friends that care for him. And I am happy for him. But...”  
Stephanie suddenly gasped, then she nodded, understandingly. “Ah yes. I see what you mean.” and she nudged against his arm with hers. “You're jealous.”  
  
Sportacus gulped. Color drained from his face slowly.   
If there was one situation worst for this sort of feeling, it was this. He heard the human terms that jealousy made you ugly inside and outside, or green-eyed and so on. If it was only eyes becoming green that would happen to him, he could live with that. It concerned him more that his nature and species handled jealousy differently. He heard the stories. Elves denied of specific objects, duties, or even locations, and so on.   
  
Elves treated badly. Elves growing vengeful. Elves stealing the children of humans in jealousy and anger, or burning houses down, killing their cattle, cats and dogs. One offense, and humans would pay the price.  
  
Sportacus shuddered at the idea of him becoming such a man. That jealousy take him over, and possibly drive him to take Rottenella away from Robbie in a fit of vengeance. Would he, a superhero, a symbol of hope, love and justice, truly become such a monster?   
  
“Sportacus, are you okay?”  
“I'm – Are you sure this is  _jealousy_ ?”  
“Well, let's see here. Do your hands get sweaty when you see them hanging around together? Do you feel feelings that shouldn't actually be there if they are together? Do you feel angry for no reason and then feel guilty afterwards?”  
  
Sportacus found himself nodding to nearly all questions.  
Stephanie noticed she must have hit him hard with this conclusion, because he looked even worse than he looked before. “Hey now.” She rubbed his shoulder. “Jealousy is completely normal. Everyone is jealous at some point.”  
  
“Even you?” He asked.   
“Yeah” she responded. “When my parents split, and my dad got a new girlfriend, I was very jealous, because I feared she would take him away from me, you know? We get along much, much better now – my point is, jealousy can be good, because it shows that you care.”  
  
Sportacus nodded. “I care a lot about Robbie.” he said.   
  
A noise broke behind the two ended the conversation abruptly. Both spun around, and Sportacus noticed a black blotch of feathers emerging from beneath a thick wall of red leaves, and flying towards the forest; probably to go hunting.  
  
“Is that – Sportacus! That's Mister Raven!” Sportacus' face fell. He had completely forgotten to tell them that the moment Robbie had returned into town, his alter ego did too.   
  
“You're right!” Sportacus grinned, “That's him!”, hoping his played surprisement wasn't too obvious.  
  
“He was inside that tree all the time?” She snatched a pair of spyglasses from her purse and held it to her face. Suddenly, she gasped.  
“Sportacus, look!” He pressed the binoculars into his hand. “Mister Raven has a nest! And a wife and baby!”  
  
Stephanie jumped up and down in excitement. “He hasn't left you at all, Sportacus – he was just starting a family in that old tree all the time and we didn't notice!”  
“What? Mister Raven is back?” Trixie quickly dropped her baseball bat and zoomed to Stephanie's side, taking the spyglasses.  
“Who's back?” Stingy, Ziggy and Pixel joined, and soon, the whole group sat on the wooden bench and passed the binoculars to each other, fixating the copper beech at the borders of their town.  
  
“I think I see their nest!”  
“Whoa, look at that, he's got has a huge fish in his beak!”  
“Let me see now!” Everyone wanted to be the first to look and watch, gathering tightly around the single binocular Stephanie had.  
  
“So we're transitioning from sports-fanatism to  _voyeurism_ , I see?” A voice echoed behind them.  
  
The kids wheeled around to find Robbie, fists in his sides, looking at them rather disgruntled. Sportacus stared between the nest, and the man standing there. How fast he had managed to get from there over to their spot was a mystery to the elf; he must have looked like a deer in the headlights, and obviously Robbie thought the same.   
  
“Oh, hey Robbie! Look at that, there's a bird family in the tree!” Stephanie offered him the binoculars.  
Robbie looked like that was no news to him, but just to keep the illusion up, he reached for the binoculars and looked himself, though slipping them off way too soon again.  
  
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, good for them I guess. Better than robotic pooches, eh Sportaclown?” he nudged Sportacus' shoulder with a witty grin. A glance that might have come across as very satisfied with their work. But Sportacus didn't meet his eyes, nor respond to his question. There was still fear. Fear that if he looked him in the face, his jealousy would just grow. Robbie actually, visibly deflated.   
  
“Hey, look, I think the baby's trying to fly!”   
  
Robbie flinched. “It – what?” He stammered, and lunged forwards.   
“Gimme that!” he snatched the spyglasses from Pixel's hands and pressed them to his face. He was right. The small fledgling shuffled to the edge of the nest, only seconds after her mother had left for more food. Her naked arms stretched and she stared down at the floor beneath, making a few attempts to flap her yet poorly developed wings.   
  
Robbie dropped the glasses, pale as a sheet.  
  
“Hey Robbie, you holding up, man?” Pixel frowned.   
“Gotta go – !” he pressed out, sprinted behind a set of bushes. Sportacus, realizing something was wrong, started moving too, towards the copper beech.  
  
The kids frowned at each other, and looked into the binoculars. Robbie flapped as fast as he could towards the edge of the city, loosing a tremendous amount of feathers in the process. He was close, he could see the nest already, he had to be there before she would drop! Rottenella squeaked happily as he stretched her arms.  
  
She wanted to be like mommy and daddy, she wanted to fly too, feel the wind between her feathers and hover above the trees. She reached the edge of the nest, held her wings far and wide and –  
  
She jumped. Robbie felt his wings freeze midair. Shock's ice cold fist closed around his bones and immobilized him. He nearly crashed into the nearest tree, but the hard slap of a slender branch against his shoulder send him back, he flapped, wings pressed close to his body to zoom down faster to catch the small pink bundle before it would hit the floor.   
  
He wouldn't be able to avoid crashing to the ground himself, he was approaching too fast. But if it mean she would live –  
  
_Thump!  
_   
Robbie saw dust swirling. His heart skipped at least two beats. Realization set in so suddenly, it felt like ice shot through his veins. He stared, in horror, afraid of what the dust would reveal once it had settled. Steinnun's only baby. The only egg in the nest. And she would be...  
  
He saw the number first, as the scene cleared. A bright, flashing ten. Sportacus was coughing, loudly, waving his hand around to push the sand and dirt out of his face. He was lying on the dirty floor on his back, flat as a pancake. On his chest sat a small, pink, big-headed baby raven, cackling happily and flapping her naked arms.  
  
 _'Again! Again!'_ she chanted, wobbling on her big feet and tumbling around , a little dizzy – but unharmed.  
  
Instead of an 'again', Robbie flapped down. He landed on Sportaucs' chest, feathers puffed out until he was a ball of black plumage on legs, and let out an angry screech, beak wide open, gray eyes furiously sparkling down at his daughter. He was ranting at her the way only a terror-driven raven could scold his fledgling. Rottenella, still blind, toppled over Sportacus' crystal in surprise.   
  
And once Robbie stopped screaming at her – Sportacus could only describe the noises she then made as soft wailing. She was shaking, and tears rolled out of her closed, puffy eyes, pitiful noises coming from her wide stretched maw.   
  
All anger Robbie felt was blown away immediately, he embraced her with his wings, holding her against his warm, comforting body. Sportacus, unable to move besides propping himself up on his elbows, stayed quiet, watching them. Soon, the children followed.  
  
“Sportacus! Are you okay?”  
“What happened?”  
“Is she hurt?”  
“How did you know –?”  
  
“Guys, guys, don't come closer!” Sportacus called, and the kids instantly stopped before trespassing the wall of stones. “This is their territory. I'm gonna...” Sportacus carefully picked them up, reached up to the tree and set them back into their nest.   
  
“I'm gonna...leave them alone now, too.” He finished, his voice suddenly very, very thin, as he rejoined the children. Looking oddly pale.  
  
He hated the way the inner elf inside him worked. Pushing through the worry, drowning the happiness that she was alright, and had survived the fall. But in this moment, he knew it:   
There was absolutely no way Robbie would detach himself from the nest now, and rejoin them as his old, villainous, human self. Not ever again.  


 

* * *

  
At the end of the day, with Robbie constantly switching between his villain human self, hunting in the forest and resting to keep Rottenella warm, Robbie practically collapsed against the tree trunk once the children had gone home, and Rottenella was sated and asleep with her mother.  
  
The shock from this afternoon was completely gone – at least for her. Robbie still had to breathe through a few times to realize just how close this could have ended in a disaster.   
  
Luckily, Sportacus had been there. He couldn't believe he actually admitted that so openly. But it was true – she would not be cuddling against the plumage of her mother right now, if he hadn't reacted fast.

The sun was setting and Robbie was spend. His feet were sore, his arms hurt, he lacked a good portions of naps and cakes. Today was a stressful day.   
  
“ _That's. It_.” Robbie wheezed, back pressed against the tree. “I'm never gonna move again.  _Ever._ I'm going to stay here, and never get up again. Yes, that's exactly what I'll do! And not even a sporta-flip-flop – nutjob can ever get me to move again – “  
“Powered out, I see?”  
  
Robbie cracked open an eye and peered up to a blue blur. The blur slowly formed into the body of a smiling Sportacus, grinning at him, his fists propped at his sides. In the setting sun, his face was illuminated by an orange-pinkish shine.   
“This was the worst day of my life.” Robbie whined. “I really wonder how you can do this everyday.”  
  
“Do what?”  
“ _Caring_ all the time. Making sure the people around you are save and happy, and don't start suspecting you of being a bird behind their backs.”  
  
“Well, that's what sportselves are made for.” he held out his hand for Robbie to take. “We care for others. No task is too hard if it's for the sake of making people happy.”  
“Oh, stop it with the kitsch, Sportasob, you're going to make me throw up roses and glitter.”  
  
Robbie picked himself up with the help of Sportacus' hand and stood next to the elf. They looked over the few small hills, towards the border to the forest. The sun was slowly setting behind the tree tops. There was no movement inside the nest. Probably, they were asleep by now.   
  
Neither spoke. But Robbie, nevertheless, looked over to the man beside him.  
  
He should thank him for sticking with him through today. And through the plan to get Steinunn and Rottenella back to town. And for keeping the kids at bay, so both could settle into the new environment. And for rescuing the fledgling.  
  
Robbie went from staring at him from the corner of his eyes, to fully observing the elf. He was speaking, telling him something about the kids and how they were glad and excited about a bird family in Lazytown, but all Robbie could focus on the way the sun reflected on his face.   
  
While he did look much better than this morning, he still had that nearly silver gaze in his eyes, a few tired shadows beneath his lids, and a few small wrinkles around the corner of his mouth.  
  
Robbie felt immensely guilty, for he had realized long ago that this had to be because of him. Days and weeks of Sportacus searching. Months of Sportacus worrying over him. His handsome, pure face aging with the common vulgar emotions of mortals.  
Robbie's hands curled into fists. He should tell him. The reason he had left. The reason he hadn't returned, even if he could have, anytime.   
  
“Well.” the elf smiled to himself, as he watched the sun slowly setting behind the trees. “I'm glad everything worked out today. Hopefully your friend and Rottenella will settle in properly –”  
  
“I should tell you something, Sportacus.” Robbie said suddenly.  
Sportacus looked at him for a while. “What is it?”  
  
“I mean. The reason. You know.” Robbie said hesitantly, arms crossed. “The reason I ran away.”  
  
Sportacus didn't say a word, and Robbie knew, he had his attention. Evidently, it was hard for the villain to pick up on the topic. So, after he didn't say a word, for about ten seconds of opening his mouth and closing it again, the superhero smiled softly.   
  
“You don't have to tell me.”  
  
“No! No, no - I have to! This isn't the same as when we were talking about my powers.” Robbie turned to him. And finally, he took a slow breath.  
  
“I want to ..th..thhh...” He repressed a gag. “ _Thank_ you for your assistance today. I don't think I would have been able to bring Steinunn here without you. And of course, you saved Rottenella too. I...suppose... I am grateful for your aid.”  
  
Despite the fact that Robbie never liked admitting that Sportacus was a help, he found himself sounding fairly open about his gratitude. A step into the right direction.  
  
“And I wanted to thank you for allowing me back into... _your_ town.” that however came out in a rather hostile tone.  
  
Sportacus face fell. “Allowing you back into  _my_ town? I'm sorry, I don't quite follow  ...”  
“I mean – “ Robbie sounded a little pressed, as if repeating this was causing him pain. “I did not expect any of you to want me back. This is your town after all, since I left at least. And besides, you would have had a good reason to kick me out again.”  
  
Sportacus' eyes widened at that. “You really believe we would have kicked you out of your own home?” He echoed, his tone reflecting disbelief.  
  
“I – I mean – oh, do I really have to explain all of this again?” he hissed. “I thought all of you hated me for going away. Or, actually, no – you'd be  _relieved_ I was gone. You did it, Sportacus, you got rid of the one thing that stood between you and fulfilling your goal, and that is keeping the children active all day, and nothing and nobody would stop them. So, yes, I did believe you'd not accept me back here with open arms.”  
  
Sportacus blinked. “Robbie, my goal is to keep people healthy and happy. I never saw this as any competition. You were never in my way at all. If anything I wanted you to be a part of all this.”  
“And did I ever participate in any activities?”  
  
Sportacus was thinking for a while. “Well, barely, but – you still played with the children. You dressed up, and they always had fun with you. And you looked like you had fun as well.”  
_' I didn't '_ was what Robbie wanted to retort, but Sportacus' words left a significant intuition.  
  
“Robbie. “Sportacus took a step towards him. “May I show you something?”   
  
Robbie felt a hand closing around his own. He looked down to see Sportacus was holding his, squeezing slightly. He swallowed, and then nodded.  
  
To his surprise, Sportacus was not leading him to any specific location around town, not the Town Hall, not Stephanies house, not the airship. He led him towards a very familiar path out of the town, towards a certain billboard. Robbie wanted to ask why they were going to his lair, but instead of asking, he watched Sportacus open the hatch. Robbie looked down the chute.  
  
There it was, his orange armchair, untouched, probably with a soft layer of dust already. He jumped down, landing softly, with Sportacus following. Robbie stared in awe, realizing that his home was, in fact, spick and span. He couldn't remember his lair had ever been so tidy, not even when he was living in it.   
  
The furniture was dusted off, scattered clothes were placed into the correct cabinets, dishes were washed and stacked neatly in the cupboards, the rug was vacuumed, the curtains freed of dust bunnies, and, in his utter bewilderment, Robbie found lots amount of cake in his fridge. He did spot a few furtively hidden apples, bananas and peaches too, but the mere fact that the superhero had not tried to fill his fridge with all the things he did not want to eat, instead with all his favorite things, was...  
  
“You cleaned up here.” he said, less of a question, and more of a statement.  
“With a little help from the kids, yes.” He admitted.   
  
Robbie should look happy. Thank him, smooch his face and probably hire him for housecleaning in future too. But the only feeling he felt was...  
  
“But - I was  _gone_ .” he stammered.  
“I believed you'd like to have it nice and cozy once you'd be back.” Sportacus admitted softly. Be back? Did Sportacus really believe so firmly in Robbie ever returning that he had cleaned his entire lair. Just to make him happy?  
  
“But look here, I meant to show you this.” He jogged over to the small table, gathering a handful of letters. He handed them to Robbie. First he believe he had been so nice to collect all the bills and constant reminders ( and threats) that he still owed the bakery's a lot of money.   
  
But instead, he stared down at neatly written names. Names he knew.  
  
He opened the letters from Stephanie, Trixie, Stingy, Ziggy and Pixel, all of them writing how much they missed him, how boring it was without him, that they planned to make a great welcoming party just for him, and that they hoped they had bought him the correct types of cakes.  
  
All of them ended with the same meaning, despite being worded differently.  
All of them loved him. And missed him dearly.  
  
Robbie saw the tears before he noticed them. First one drop. Then two drops, and then three. They soaked into the letters and blurred the ink. Robbie rubbed at his face to stop them.  
  
“This is – You are – “ He stammered again. “Why do you do this? This makes no sense! This is... _naive_ . That's what it is!”   
Sportacus face fell instantly.  
  
“I was gone, for  _months._ I could have been gone for longer. I could have been in that nest for the rest of my life. And you were hoping, bothering, worrying for me, instead of moving on!  _Naive!_ It just makes no  _sense!_ ” he spat.  
  
“We are not naive!” Sportacus suddenly blurted. And it actually made Robbie flinch, and wheel around.  He had never heard the elf _yell_ at him this way, soft blue eyes glowering.  
“I'm – maybe I am. Maybe we all were. Maybe you wouldn't have come back, you're right. But then, at least, I  _wanted_ to believe. I  _wanted_ to wait for you.”  
  
He looked so hurt. Justifiably. Just now did Robbie realize  _what_ he had said. Sportacus' softest, sweetest puppy eyes lidded into a watery gaze, staring down at the floor, eyebrows knitted.  
  
“If  _I'm_ the reason you left,” he muttered. “If I ever did anything to you that made you believe you'd be unwelcome here, then I thought this was the only way I could make it right again.  
If I have done, or said, anything that hurt you – ”  
  
Robbie felt his legs moving. He couldn't. He couldn't hear and see this, not this, not now, when he had Sportacus beaming and smiling and laughing with him this morning.  
Hands reached out. They closed around Sportacus' cheeks. Robbie pressed his mouth against the superhero's.  
  
And he stopped talking. Several seconds, he didn't move, and Robbie believed he wouldn't, not after what he had said – but then he returned the kiss, softly, and passionately. Robbie melted against him instantly, strong arms wrapped around his form, and held him close, very close, so close he could smell the fresh scent of his natural odor, moss and apples and the scent of spring. He tasted just like he tasted the first time. Heavenly.  
  
“You never hurt me, Sportakiss.” he said, out of breath once he moved away, and his voice was shaky.  
Sportacus smiled at him, the softest, most handsome, most beautiful smile. “I'm glad you're home, Robbie.” He said, and embraced him.  
  
  
  
“Will you go back?” he asked.   
  
Robbie blinked. He had been staring at the dark sky above them, but now he looked to the man sitting with him on the billboard, the moon leaving a silver shine on Sportacus' face. “Back to where?”  
  
“Back to the nest.” Sportacus answered. “Back to Rottenella and her mother.”  
  
Robbie took in a deep breath. He stared up into the sky, the stars blinking and sparkling above them. “Nah. They are exhausted and probably sleep by now, anyway. And I do know how much sleep is appreciated with a little eating-machine waking up every two hours to scream for food. I'm not going to wake them up now.”  
  
Sportacus chuckled. He scooted a little closer, the billboard creaked a little under Sportacus' weight. “Well. I actually meant … do you intend to stay with them from now on. Or will you stay here, with us in Lazytown?”  
Oh. So that's what the elf believed was appropriate stargazing-talk; Giving him choices. Making him pick sides.  
  
In all honesty, Robbie did think about this throughout the evening though. He was still positive that Sportacus thought that Robbie was fond of his temporary nest-mate in a way only a bird could. It's not this way.  
  
“Sportacus. Have I told you about the monogamy or birds?” he asked, slightly annoyed, since this wasn't the first time he explained it to the elf.  
“A thousand times.” Sportacus retorted, with an amused giggle. For a moment, neither talked. Robbie fidgeted with his finger.  
  
“She's not my mate, Sportacus.” he repeated, the same he had when they met in the woods. “She never was. And never will. Do you know what happens to birds that loose their mate for life?”  
  
Sportacus shook his head.   
  
“They grieve for them, for all times. Birds mate for life, Sportaklutz. Steinunn, she – well. She will never have another man she loves like she loved her mate.”  
  
“That's sad.” Sportacus said. He was right. It was sad, and unfair. But nature wasn't fair.   
“Agreed.” Robbie admitted. “Though. It's worse when you love someone for life, and know the other wouldn't love you back, for a lifetime.”  
  
This came so out of nowhere, it actually surprised the hero. “How do you know that , Robbie?”  
  
Robbie froze. He looked back at the superhero. Gulped. Gulped again, and then turned away.  
  
“I should answer your question, Sportacurious. Yes – I do have magic. I am a fae. Well _. Half-fae_ to be precise.”  
Sportacus blinked. This...explained a lot. Sure, the shapeshifting was one part. But there was also the occasional teleporting, the switch transition from one disguise to the next, and unique tallness of the man. He was the tallest of all in this, and any other town.  
  
“ _Half_ -fae?” Sportacus frowned.  
  
“I wasn't born one. I was young, very young, when I stepped into one of those blasted fairy rings, and got...lets say 'adopted against my will' by the fae in town. He taught me everything I know today. He was true of the common fae's behavior - a criminal, worse than me, trust me. He actually tried poisoning and enslaving the whole city.   
  
But, I digress - He wanted me to be like him, a predator, worse than the common animals you'd find in these woods. A panther perhaps, a wolf, anything really that could easily kill a man. He was immensely mad when I flew up the tree instead of climbing it with claws, or dug inside the catnip instead of eating it.”  
  
He laughed. But It was a bitter laugh. “To this day I don't know what I am. What I want to be; a raven. Or a fae. Or a man. Or all three. Or none. I don't know what I am. I have no control over instincts that aren't human. One of them is --” he sighed heavily. His hands felt sweaty and trembled. Curling them into fists made it almost better.  
  
“Have you ever felt a sort of connection to a person that goes beyond fondness? Beyond friendship, whatever that feels like? Or beyond... _love,_ at that matter?”  
  
Sportacus looked like he was a young boy, being asked a question he could easily answer. “Of course I do! That's what sportselves feel when they are around their mate. We have strong bonds as well, a little like the way you explained bird monogamy. If there isn't great competition, and if the circumstances are in our favors, we stay together for a lifetime.”  
  
“So do I.” Robbie said, and it sounds sad, and soft and just casually.  
  
Something set into place in Sportacus' mind. His eyes widen, and he looked over to Robbie.  
“You...?”  
  
“To be honest with you; I ran away because I knew if I felt this way for someone, if I would develop feelings for anybody, I would be alone and sad. I would be attached to someone I know who would never think the same about me.” Robbie pinched the bridge of his nose.   
  
“This isn't normal for a human being. This isn't normal for  _anybody._ You have no idea what this is like – loving someone for the rest of you life. Just one, and nobody else, ever.”  
  
Sportacus stared at him. And then, he slipped a little further away from him again.Yes, that's what he had expected. Sportacus would leave, the moment Robbie revealed his mentality. He would never look him in the eyes again. Never talk to him again. It would only make sense.  
  
Witnessing it still hurt. It shattered his heart. The pain cut deep. So deep it would leave scars for sure. Scars that wouldn't heal.  
But then, he felt a touch at his hand. And a touch at his shoulder.   
  
“I do know what it is like, Robbie.” he said. “I know you for three years now. I felt it for two, now.”  
  
Robbie stared at him in disbelief. Was he kidding him? Would he take the last bit of dignity he had by mocking him?  
  
“I wanted to tell you. That day when we went to the forest. I wanted to tell you how I feel, but I knew you would never feel the same for me. Not for a day. Not for a week, or a month. And especially not for a whole lifetime. I knew, because when we kissed, I was absolutely sure I must have hurt you. Or scared you. That's why you flew away. And didn't return.”  
  
He stared at Robbie's hand which he held in both of his. “When I saw you with your friend and her fledgling, I was... ” Sportacus furrowed his eyebrows. “I was scared, Robbie. My kind kidnaps the children of the people we despise or grow jealous of. I was afraid I would do it too, very soon, if I continued to love someone I knew I couldn't have.”   
  
He looked up into Robbie's eyes.   
  
“Truth be told, Robbie – sometimes I don't know what I am, or who I want to be either. A man, A superhero, or an elf. I do know what you feel. I feel it too. But I thought, how could a villain ever love a superhero? How could  _you_ ever love  _me?_ I have always tried to change your ways of living, and I meant good with that, but I know you would not like me for each day I tried making you eat what I and the kids eat, or do what I and the kids do, or exercise as much as I do and – "  
  
Robbie's arms wrapped around Sportacus. He drew him so close, he was sure he would break their ribs. His fingers dug into Sportacus' back, desperately almost, his face buried into the crook of his neck. He kissed him there, but mostly, he just sobbed dryly. Sportacus held him too. An arm protectively around him, a hand in his hair.  
  
“I love you. I've always loved you.” Robbie whimpered. “Don't you  _dare_ thinking otherwise.”

Sportacus smiled, soft. Happy. It felt like a piece inside him set into place, slowly and naturally.

 

* * *

  
“Robbie Rotten!” The kids gasped, but it sounded much, much happier and cheerful than the previous times.   
  
“What the – ” Robbie ripped the blonde wig off his head. “I wasn't even disguised for five minutes! Couldn't you have stayed oblivious for at least another ten minutes?”  
“Then could you _not_ rip your costume apart for at least another ten minutes?” The pigtail girl mimicked Robbie's tone, earning loud guffawing from the rest of her friends.   
  
Robbie looked down his legs to see – Oh no! His officer uniform! He looked around, finding the other half caught in the bush of raspberries he had tumbled into after he had chased the 'foul criminals' that dared to be a general sound pollution to _~~his~~_  the town's ears, only to tumble over the same bothersome root he had tumbled over before, and rip his costume apart.  
  
“Who the heck plants these blasted shrubs everywhere?!” He growled. “Fine. You got me. Good for you, midgets! Cheerio then.”  
  
Robbie snatched the pants from the shrub, ignoring the laughter at the full display of his underwear. Had he only chosen the plain one instead of his favorite heart-patterned one. This was awkward. Very awkward. Welp, guess it's time to think of another way to keep the crowd busy enough to stay quiet during his napping time.  
  
“Robbie! Robbie hold on!”  
“I said 'cheerio', pink girl! It's  _swedish_ and means 'leave me alone', so please – leave me be!”  
“But I gotta tell you something important!”  
  
Robbie turned around. Stephanie had run after him, and tugged on his sleeve. “We're sorry, we didn't mean to ruin it for you.”  
“Well, you did.” Robbie pouted. “I worked almost a whole day on this one, and then 'poof' - all the hard work down the drain!”  
“If it comforts you; It was very authentic! I was seriously  _shocked_ for a moment to see you.”  
  
“Hmph!” Robbie crossed his arms. “Whatever. Is that all?”  
  
“ Ah, no. Actually - We were going to have a picnic at the oak, would you like to join us? Maybe that'll cheer you up?” Robbie gasped, looked over to said hill, with the blanket all spread out and baskets with food at each corner.  
  
“Picnic? It's the middle of summer! The hottest day of the year! That's not a weather to do picnics outside!”  
“Yes, it is! That's the best day to stay outside and have fun with friends and – “  
Robbie made a gagging noise. “Yes, healthy stuff, I got the drift. I'm not interested!”  
  
“We made pie though! And Sportacus is there too. We were going to surprise him with a gift we all bought together, now that his pet raven came back.”  
  
Robbie looked over his shoulder. There he was, indeed, the blue elf, sitting on the knoll, cross-legged, probably to keep them from randomly jumping up or moving, sharing a slice of apple pie for everyone, even himself. Robbie gulped, each time he saw him. His friend. His love for a lifetime. So infuriatingly frustrating, but oh, so wonderful, handsome and soft like dandelion. He spotted Robbie from the distance, and a grin spread over his face, his mustache curved into a cute bow like whiskers. He waved, and Robbie wanted to wave back, perhaps sit with him right there in the sun and –   
  
“Robbie?”

“Wh-Whut-What? Apple pie...? I mean – No! No. That's _sugar-free_ applepie, I can see that from here! So, no , I'd rather not. No Sugar, no Robbie!”  
  
“But – !” Stephanie wanted to prod further, but she withdrew. “Okay, Robbie.” She said, shoulders slumped. “Maybe next time.”   
“Whatever!” The villain spat.  
  
Little did she know, the moment she turned around, Robbie had slid behind the next tree trunk. She joined her friends back on the blanket.  
  
“So, what did Robbie say? Will he join us?” Pixel asked.  
“No. He's not interested.” Stephanie sighed. “He said 'No sugar, no Robbie.' ”  
The kids 'aw'-ed with shared disappointment.  
  
“I really believed he would have changed at least a little bit since he returned. You know?” Stingy said.  
“Yeah, he's still a butt though!”  
  
“Trixie.” Sportacus tut-tutted. “Well, he might join us later. He's probably very busy. You know how hard working he is.”  
“I don't wanna wait this long until we give you your present though!” Ziggy blurted, and quickly slapped his hands over his lips. Sportacus blinked.   
  
“Surprise? For me?” he blinked in awe.   
Robbie squinted behind the tree. What surprise they got for him, he wondered.  
  
“Well...” Stephanie grabbed for her pink bag. “Since Mister Raven is finally back, we all saved some of our pocket money and... well...” he held a package over to the hero. It was wrapped in blue paper, with a large purple and maroon striped bow on top. “I hope you like it.”  
  
“You guys really got this for me?” he asked, touched to the heart, and slowly unwrapped his gift. In awe, he stared down into the box. It was a single, large glove, made out of brown soft leather. At the hem dangled a ribbon made out of the same burgundy leather, and there was an emblem burned into each side of the glove. 'S' and 'R'. Sportacus and Raven? Or...Sportacus and Robbie?  
  
“It's a falconry glove.” Stephanie explained. “This is what they use for training birds.”  
“Yeah, so your arm won't get scratched up when you carry Mister Raven around!”  
“Or when you finally want to train him to be your companion in epic battles!” Trixie grinned.  
  
“This is...” Sportacus was in awe. “Thank you guys so much. It's wonderful...”  
  
“ _It's wonderful._ ” Robbie whispered as well, pressing a hand to his heart. He watched as Sportacus slipped the glove onto his arm, moved his fingers inside the soft leather, traced the letters with his fingertip.  
  
“Come on then! Try it out!” The kids urged. And Sportacus chuckled, before placing his fingers on his lips, a long, loud whistle breaking through the noises of children chattering.  
  
Robbie sniffled, brushed the wetness out of his eyes, adjusted his vest. “These children will be the death of me.” he said hoarsely to himself, snapped his finger and his form vanished in thick long feathers, emerging behind the tree and fluttering over to the elf's extended arm, landing ever so softly on the soft leather of the glove.  
  
Sportacus smiled at him, the warmest smile he had ever seen on that blasted elf's face. “Hello Mister Raven.” He greeted him like an old friend. “What do you think about the kids present for us both?”   
  
The raven croaked softly, jumping up and down the hero's arm. And then down to sit on his crossed legs, to nestle onto the man's lap.  
  
“Heh. I think he likes it, too.” Sportacus concluded with a happy smirk. He scratched the raven's plumage, while Robbie cuddled further into Sportacus' form, watching contently as the picnic progressed, far, far to the evening hours. Listening to the children chattering, playing soccer, or baseball, or whatever other dumb sport stuff they were doing, while Sportacus ruffled affectionately through his plumage, and Robbie ever so often gently nibbled on Sportacus' index finger, or rubbed his small feathery pompadour against Sportacus' arm.    
  
Robbie noticed two glimmering eyes staring outside the nearest shrub. Silver, dull eyes, narrowed slits, whiskers poking out of the growth, fixated on him. Watching him intently.  
  
But the cat barely bothered Robbie at this point. He wouldn't harm him again. After all - He was with Sportacus, feeling safe, lazy, and loved. He wouldn't leave his side. No siree. Not even an old puss could faze him anymore.

 

* * *

 

 _ **All the world will be your enemy, Prince With A Thousand Foes. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you.**_  
 _ **But first, they must catch you. Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people shall never perish.**_   
  


-Watership Down

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... here it is folks. The end.  
> Though, since I'm still not 100% happy with the ending, I do plan on adding a few bonus chapters in future!
> 
> Thanks everybody who followed this through and left comments and kudos. I love you all !


End file.
